The Federal Executive Council has approved the bill seeking to establish the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) Agency and the National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.
This is contained in a statement on Thursday, September 8, 2022, in Abuja by Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, and signed by her Media Aide, Mrs Nneka Anibeze.
According to Farouq, the bill, if enacted, would provide the necessary statutory backing for the existing NSIP under her ministry, describing it as a reliable tool for solving poverty problems in Nigeria.
“NSIP serves as an enduring legacy of this administration and is necessary to be backed by legislation at this time.
“Thus, the urgent need for council to approve the NSIP Bill which seeks to provide statutory backing as conceptualised and established by this administration.
“The NSIP is directly and indirectly impacting the lives of poor Nigerians through its four cluster programmes namely: the N-POWER Programme, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme.
“These programmes are designed to serve as various forms of social safety nets specifically targeting those at the bottom of the social ladder or those who require some form of support to enable them to become productive members of the society and finally prevent more people from falling below the poverty line.
“The submission is to create the National Social Investment Programme as an agency in line with Mr President’s agenda to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the year 2030,” Farouq said.
The minister explained that NSIP’s implementation was in full partnership with all the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
She emphasised that the Federal Executive Council also approved acceptable source of funding for NSIP through a budgetary allocation and five per cent of recovered and repatriated funds.
Farouq said that the National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan for Nigeria, was also approved.
According to her, the plan is expected to help build resilience of Nigerian communities to severe flood incidences by providing a common and strategic reference point for flood planning and response for all the tiers of government response organisations.
“The plan promotes risk reduction through early warning and early action arrangements and effective use of technology for forecasting and surveillance by mandated organisations.
“The strategic outcomes of the plan are that the nation is more resilient to future flood events, effective responses to flood events and an improved understanding of the wider impacts of flood on national development.
“The plan, when enacted into law will ensure that all relevant MDAs understand their roles and responsibilities before, during and after flood incidences.
“It will also establish clear threshold for flood emergency response arrangements, provide clarity on the means of improving resilience and minimising the impact of flood events.
“It will also establish short, medium and long-term asset that will provide continuous improvement in flood emergency management in Nigeria,” Farouq said.
She said that the bills would be sent to the National Assembly for legislation and passage to law.
By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
