The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has flagged off the training of forty-nine independent monitors for the Integrated National Social Investment Programme in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
The training, which was held in Calabar, the capital of Cross River, was flagged off on behalf of the Minister, Hajia Umah Farouq by the Special Assistant on Administration, Ngene Bash for the selected persons drawn from the eighteen local government areas.
Creating feedback
Bash said that the independent monitors would be equipped to assess the impact of all the components of the Integrated National Social Investment Programme in the state and report back to the headquarters.
“Since this programme has been running, there has been criticisms on the efficiency of the various components and cost. These were the reasons the Minister introduced an independent monitoring and feedback system to enhance objective assessment of the Integrated National Social Investment Programme on the target groups,” Bash said.
“The independent monitors were carefully selected to monitor and gather data on the efficacy of the programme in Cross River. The Integrated National Social Investment Programme has four components such as the N-Power, the National Home Grown School Feeding, the Conditional Cash Transfer and Government Enterprise Empowerment.”
He explained that the Ministry was collaborating with the National Orientation Agency for the success of the programme.
“When the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari introduced the programme, his desire was to bring one hundred million Nigerians out of poverty. So, the Ministry is partnering with the National Orientation Agency, which has offices all over the eighteen local government area to make this programme achieve success. They will assist in information dissemination and gathering,” Bash hinted.
The independent monitors, he further stated, would be equipped with the necessary tools and facilities to enhance its effectiveness.
In 2015, President Buhari introduced the Integrated National Social Investment Programme to provide millions of Nigerians with alternative means of livelihood, thereby positively impacting the socio-economy of the people.
Lateefah Ibrahim
