Olalekan Adetayo , Abuja

The Presidency on Friday described the statement
credited to Senator Danjuma Goje on the present
administration’ s National Social Investment
Programme as irresponsible.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice- President
on Media and Publicity, Mr . Laolu Akande , said
this in a statement made available to journalists in
Abuja .
Akande was reacting to Goje’s claim that despite
that N1.5 trn had so far been released to the
programme , he had yet to see a beneficiary in his
state.
“ I have yet to see one boy who came to tell me
that he has benefited from your N500 bn, ” Goje
was quoted to have said at a Senate Appropriation
Committee hearing on Thursday .
But Akande said he hoped the senator was
misquoted and called on him to make necessary
clarifications.
“ However, were it to be true that he made such
wild claims , it would not only be unfortunate but
certainly an irresponsible statement, ” the
presidential aide said.
Akande explained that while the government had
budgeted N500 bn each in the 2016 and 2017
budgets , including the N100 bn for the Family
Housing Fund in the 2017 budget , only N175 bn
had so far been released since the commencement
of the programme .
He said it was incredible that the senator would
insinuate otherwise.
The statement added, “ If actually he was
accurately reported , we would say he ought to
have requested for the information instead of
misleading an entire nation with such an
incredible claim.
“ While the Senator was claiming he knew no one
from his state who had benefited from the SIP at a
Senate Committee hearing, his colleague from
Kogi State , Senator Atai Aidoko , requested from
the Special Adviser to the President on SIP , Mrs .
Maryam Uwais, (who was before the
Appropriations Committee) for a random name of
a beneficiary from his state , called the number
there and then and got positive confirmation from
the beneficiary .
“ That Senator then formally announced the
outcome of his random call to the entire Senate
hearing .
“ For the avoidance of any doubt, there are today
in this country 200 ,000 previously unemployed
Nigerian graduates who are receiving their
N30 ,000 monthly stipends as they serve their
communities in different capacities including as
teaching assistants , agric extension aides or
community health workers.
“ There are today in our nation more than 7. 4
million primary school pupils in 22 states who are
being fed one hot meal a day under the Buhari ’s
SIP. Almost 300 , 000 Nigerians are also receiving
N5, 000 monthly cash transfer among our most
vulnerable and poorest citizens.
“ Our target for the cash transfer is one million .
There are almost 300 ,000 Nigerians who have
benefited from micro - credit loans of between
N10 , 000 and N100 ,000 .”

www.punchng.com/senators-claim-on-buharis-social-investment-programme-irresponsible-presidency/

May be when the 2017 preselected beneficiaries are deployed to their ppa the npower program will gain popularity. In the same vein PDP senators are afraid of the impact of 500,000 votes from graduate beneficiaries of npower in 2019 general election. APC should shine their eyes.

stevnwigw1:
May be when the 2017 preselected beneficiaries are deployed to their ppa the npower program will gain popularity. In the same vein PDP senators are afraid of the impact of 500,000 votes from graduate beneficiaries of npower in 2019 general election. APC should shine their eyes.

Goje is an APC senator

stevnwigw1:
May be when the 2017 preselected beneficiaries are deployed to their ppa the npower program will gain popularity. In the same vein PDP senators are afraid of the impact of 500,000 votes from graduate beneficiaries of npower in 2019 general election. APC should shine their eyes.

Zombie, the person u are accusing is from ur saint party. Go get ur senses back!

Clearly the most irresponsible govt ever

Shebi una include Am for una yeye list

obaataaokpaewu:
Goje is an APC senator

the faction joining sdp.

CriticMaestro:
Shebi una include Am for una yeye list

You can't write simple English.

stevnwigw1:
You can't write simple English.

Come teached me how to spoke pidgin..akpi

stevnwigw1:
the faction joining sdp.

So what concerns SDP and PDP?

APC is winning the race come 2019

npower is bae

What criteria are this government using to select the poorest in Nigeria because even me I still not know any single individual receiving that social welfare package from Government. I think Nigeria should be bold enough to go to some countries that are given social welfare to there citizen and get the method on which they are using for instance South Africa if not what I see here is someone looting this money and claiming saint.