FG’s N500bn SIP failed in the north – Aisha Buhari
The wife of President Muhammadu Buhari , Aisha Buhari, on Saturday decried the failure of the implementation Federal Governments’ Social Investment Programmes (SIP) in the northern part of the country.
Speaking during an interactive program for women at the State House in Abuja, she lamented the inability of women in the north to benefit from the program. Noting the conditional cash transfer component of the SIP, Aisha questioned the method used in executing the programme. She also faulted the amount of money spent on the purchase of mosquito nets.
“They have spent $16 million buying mosquito nets. I did not get it, but maybe some people have gotten it. I didn’t get it. But I feel that, that’s my personal opinion, $16 million is enough to fumigate Nigeria,” she said.
However, stating that the FG’s SIP worked well in some states, Aisha said the N500 billion voted for SIP, that was part of 2015 campaigns where the government promised to give out N10,000, feed pupils in primary schools and give N5,000 to poorest of the poor.
According to her, “The SSA to the president on social investment is a lady from Kano and I’m sure that my husband decided to put somebody from Kano because of the population and political impact it made,” Aisha said.
“I have never asked how the money is being used or is being given out. I met Barrister (one of the President aides on SIP) once and he promised me that for my state (Adamawa) we should get 30,000 women to be given N10,000. Up till now I haven’t heard from him.
“I don’t want to raise alarm that my state does not benefit from it, where SGF comes from, I kept quiet because I don’t want people to say that I talk too much. Recently, I saw a 74-year-old man selling petty things in Kano, I asked him how much is his capital, he told me between N3,000 and N4,000,” the First Lady said.
She added that women in the region did their best to campaign with the hope of ensuring that the poorest of the poor get N5,000 monthly as promised by the FG all to no avail.
