Delta State is ahead in the South-South zone in the chase for the Federal Government’s N500 billion social security fund, Kingsley Otuaro, the acting governor, has said.
He told stakeholders in Asaba that this was because of the determination of the current administration in the state to deliver prosperity to its people ahead of other states in the geo-political zone to tap into the National Social Safety-Net Programme (NAPPS).
Otuaro, who said this at a day sensitisation workshop held in Asaba, said queuing into NAPPS would fast track the administration agenda called SMART.
NAPPS is a Federal Government special intervention project designed for delivery under five clearly defined programmes including N-Power (Job Creation and Youth Employment), Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF), Cash Transfers (NASSP), Enterprise, and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), STEM-E Bursary Programme). The project is to restore livelihoods, economic opportunities and sustenance for the poor.
Otuaro recalled that when Governor Ifeanyi Okowa assumed power, he thought of solving the problem affecting the society, saying, “We had to put a programme to deliver prosperity on all Deltans and in consonance with that, we have to find a formula, hence the S.M.A.R.T.”
He explained that in SMART, the administration has wealth creation and provision of job opportunities for all Deltans.
The Ag governor disclosed that the administration had to set up institutions and frameworks in order to achieve the things it had set in its agenda to all, leading to the establishment of Job Creation Office currently headed by a seasoned professor to drive the several programmes of the state.
He said the Job Creation office is in-charge of the Youth Agriculture Entrepreneurship Programme (YAGEP), the Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), the Production and Processing Support Programme (PPSP), etc.
In structure, design and implementation, these programmes are focused on equipping participants with life skills, developing their leadership qualities, increasing their personal effectiveness, harnessing their productivity potentials, and enabling them to become entrepreneurs, managers and leaders, he added.
He explained that these specialized job creation programmes under the office of the Chief Job Creation Officer, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDGAs) were mandated to undertake projects that have inbuilt employment.
Otuaro who recalled the tragic deaths associated with high rate of unemployment across the country said Okowa thought one of the basic things he could do was to provide jobs and the strategic wealth creation.
He expressed optimism that through SMART agenda, many Deltans would be self-reliant and put food on their table, and reduce the challenge of wealth creation circulation and unemployment.
In his presentation, the Special Adviser to the President, Mariam Uwais, represented by the Special Assistant to the presidency on Internally Displaced Persons and Social Investment, Mohammed Brimah, said NAPPS was in five segments even as N500 billion has been budgeted for it.
He explained that “the N-Power is to provide jobs and to train unemployed graduates as teachers, and non-graduates as artisans”, adding that 500,000 teachers and 100,000 artisans are targeted in this programme.
According to him, the Home Grown School Feeding targets 5.5 million children and it is for primary school children from foods locally sourced from within the country.
On the Cash Transfer, he said that one million beneficiaries (targeted poor and vulnerable households) would have Direct Cash Transfers of N5,000 monthly. The GEEP, he said, targets 1.66 million beneficiaries (for financial inclusion and access to credit for market women, artisans, women cooperatives, youth and farmers.
Brimah stressed that The STEM-E targets 100,000 which is for financial support for tertiary students studying courses in Education, Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics targets 100,000 students.
