Tasks SIP on N10,000 stipends for women in the state
Part of the whopping N500 billion Social Investment Programme (SIP) fund should be channeled to boost the well-being of no fewer than 26,000 persons displaced in about eight local government areas ravaged by bandits in Katsina State, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has said.
Speaking in Batsari Local Government headquarters in the state yesterday during the disbursement of relief materials she procured with the support of the wives of some former state governors and some women leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the First lady pointed out that it was in view of President Buhari’s desire to assist the less privileged Nigerians that the N500 billion Social Investment Programme with N10,000 stipends for each beneficiary was launched some years back.
Faulting its implementation once again, after the multitude of female IDPS in Batsari Local Government secretariat said none of them had benefitted from the programme, the President’s wife frowned at the poor disbursement of the N500bn and urged the programme to give the thousands of indigent women in the state the stipends that would help them make ends meet in this trying period.
This is even as she had called on the national Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons to make use of their platforms in supporting about 26,000 IDPs.
“At this juncture, we are calling on Social Investment Programme to race to Katsina State and help them (IDPs and others) with N10,000 each. They are really in need. This is a state where we got 1.2 million votes free of charge; we didn’t pay any money for them to vote for us, they voted for us out of trust and they need to be taken care of. Whatever is due to them, they need to get it; we don’t need to fight for it,” she added.
She also expressed concern that the magnitude of the needed care for the victims of kidnapping, cattle rustling and banditry in the state was beyond what the state government could handle alone, saying “we need them (federal agencies) here more than ever.”
Mrs. Buhari, who condoled with the people of the state over the loss of lives and property to recent security challenges, also condoled with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Buratai over the loss of a gallant soldier, Lt. Jemilu, and the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Adamu, for losing two courageous police inspectors.
She however commended military and the security agencies for intensifying their efforts at addressing the insecurity by changing their strategies to saves lives and property after the state government raised the alarm over the plight of several local government areas and communities.
Some of the public spirited wives of former state governors that supported the President’s wife in bring succor to the IDPS in Katsina, Batsari and no fewer than six other local government areas included Akwa Ibom, Nasarawa and Bayelsa States’ ex-first ladies and the Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mrs. Paullen Tallen, including the APC National Women leader.
A breakdown of the IDPs in the state shows that Batsari accounts for 18,544 persons followed by kankara with 2,426 and Katsina with 1,707. Others local government areas with high displaced persons’ population are safana (607), Jibia (616), Danmusa (513), and Kurfi (135).
