FG reiterates its commitment to welfare of common man

• Seeks to expand Social Investment Programmes

By Chioma Obinagwam

The successes recorded in the deployment of the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) across the country and the planned expansion of the schemes in the Next Level reveals the Buhari administration’s commitment to the welfare of the common man, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande disclosed in a statement at the weekend.

He said that Prof. Osinbajo stated this over the weekend during his engagements in Bauchi including the commissioning of the Bauchi state Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Shared Facility for soap and groundnut oil making clusters, the launch of a rural electrification project covering 22 villages and other projects executed by the state government.

Confiance News gathered that the MSMEs Shared Facility project is an initiative of the Federal Government under the National MSMEs Clinic in partnership with state governments to provide equipment and other facilities in clusters for use by individual MSMEs who are not able to acquire such equipment and facilities on their own.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, “President Muhammadu Buhari has always been committed to the welfare of the common man and that is why one of the major programmes of the Federal Government is the Social Investment Programmes.

“All of the schemes – the N-Power, the School Feeding Programme, the Conditional Transfers, the GEEP schemes and the MSMEs clinic, are the President’s own way of saying that the first priority of our government is the common man –  those who cannot take care of themselves or those who are struggling very hard to do so.”

Speaking specifically on the impact of the Federal Government’s SIPs in Bauchi State, the Vice President said the state government had done well in ensuring that the people were properly mobilized to participate in all the schemes hence the impressive figures recorded by the state in the various components of the SIPs.

“I recall that when we started the SIPs, the very first state that efficiently used our portal under the N-Power job scheme was Bauchi state.

“The state governor made sure that several young men and women of Bauchi state were able to use the portal and to the surprise of many, some of the largest number of persons who were registered on the portal were from Bauchi state.

“Today, under the N-Power, Bauchi has 13, 075 beneficiaries, & 972 under N-Build. Under the Homegrown School Feeding Programme, 618,124 pupils are fed every day here in Bauchi.

“In addition to that, we have farmers benefitting from our SIPs. Currently, we have about 9,799 farmers who have been given micro-credits to support their works. Under the TraderMoni,

Bauchi has one of the largest figures in the scheme with 39,000 beneficiaries. We have done conditional transfers to 23,000 persons under our Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme,” the Vice President added.

Prof. Osinbajo also lauded the launch of the Bauchi Health Contributory Scheme and the Health Trust Fund, describing it as “historic and commendable”.

He said the state government had scored an important point by taking on the responsibility of providing for a contributory scheme for its citizens and also a health trust fund.

According to him, “modern way of funding health care is by either creating a contributory scheme or by having in place a trust fund. The launch of these schemes here in Bauchi is a landmark development in the social and economic development of the state.”

Earlier on arrival in Bauchi state, the Vice President proceeded to Ningi Local Government Area where he commissioned the Burra electrification project executed by the state government.

In a short remark, the Vice President commended the state government for the project, noting that it was in line with the agenda of the Buhari administration, and assuring the people of the area and the state of more such infrastructure projects by the Federal Government.

While in Bauchi, the Vice President also continued his Family Chat engagements with Nigerians with a visit to the family of Mohammed Musa Usman – one of the outstanding MSMEs identified during the clinic organized in Bauchi in 2018.

Previously a scrap collector, Alhaji Usman now makes Suya grilling machine using scrap metals and makes belts and shoes using abandoned tires. He currently employs seven persons.

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