N500 Billion SIP: Nigerian Creates Petition Against National Legislators

An active citizen has created an online petition on CitizenGo, an advocacy platform, against the National Legislature’s interest to control the N500B Social Investment Programme (SIP).

National Assembly legislators are requesting to be part of the implementation of the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government. This is not part of their responsibilities.

However, Presidency has explained that the beneficiaries of all the SIPs are being produced through that fair online application process, which is also easily audited and cross-checked.
National Assembly responsibilities do not include the implementation or execution of policies.

Yet, some Senators have demanded of the Presidency that Senators be allowed to nominate 50 beneficiaries each for N-Power. That is in opposition to a selection system that would guarantee equal opportunity for all Nigerian youth by means of an online application process. That system has already allowed in 200,000 Nigerian previously unemployed graduates who got in without needing to “press any buttons” whatsoever.

Calls have come from various quarters for the legislators to take their eyes and hands off the scheme and focus on the core responsibility of law making. One of such is the petition created on CitizenGo, where Adetoye Abioye, a concerned Nigerian said “We don’t want the Buhari administration to give in to such demands of legislators to choose beneficiaries. These legislators are likely to produce bogus lists, they would also exploit them by taking significant percentages of their stipends and other monetary proceeds.

“Corruption is not far from this illegal request to be part of the implementation. As active citizens, we need to say ‘No’ to this!”

It would be recalled that already all the SIPs of the current government have taken off. They include the employment of 200,000 graduates; the National Homegrown School Feeding program, in seven states; and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), which is being paid to beneficiaries in nine states and is aimed at one million Nigerians in its first budget cycle.

There is also the Government Economic and Enterprise Program, (GEEP), which giving interest-free soft loans to Nigerians in over 13 states of the federation in sums ranging from N10,000 to N100,000 each. GEEP is meant to benefit about 1.6m Nigerian traders, and artisans, as well as market men and women.