Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says Federal Government will start the first roll out of its N500 billion intervention scheme on June 11.
The minister made the disclosure at the inaugural “Buharimeter Town hall Meeting’’, organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), in Abuja on Thursday.
The town hall meeting was organised to evaluate the one year of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
The event was supported by the Open Society for West Africa (OSIWA), and Department for International Development (DFID),
Mohammed said the government would on Saturday open an internet portal named “npower.gov.ng’’ and start taking applications for the 500,000 direct teacher job scheme.
He said that other schemes in the social investment programme would be rolled out in the coming weeks.
The schemes, according to the minister, included the conditional cash transfer that pays N5,000 monthly to one million Nigerians and the micro-credit scheme for more than 1.5 million people.
He said the others were the home grown school feeding programme that will serve 5.5 million pupils and the education support grant programme for 100,000 tertiary students in Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics (STEM), and education.
The minister assured that while there was still much work to be done, the administration neither lacked the political will nor the discipline and the determination to fulfill its electoral promises and take Nigeria to greater heights.
“The Change we promised is real, and with the takeoff of our massive social intervention programmes in a few days, Nigerians will begin to feel the impact of the new order.’’
Mohammed reiterated that the government had delivered on its three campaign mantra – to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and revamp the economy.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who also presented government’s scorecard at the event, said it would build standard ranches across the country for grazing of cattle.
He said the decision was to end the herdsmen/farmers clashes which had led to loss of many lives and property and for optimal gains for cattle rearing.
He assured that government would not encroach on any individual land in achieving this goal, adding that state governments would be carried along.
Ogbeh disclosed that 67,000 farmers engaged in dry season rice farming in the year and 350,000 tons of rice was expected to be harvested in Kebbi, Kano and Jigawa.
The minister said government would continue to encourage farmers to use more of irrigation rather than waiting for the raining season before they farm.
He also said the government would train 10,000 agricultural extension officers to address the challenges of farmers in the rural areas.
Director of CDD, Ms Idayat Hassan, said the forum was to assess the Buhari administration based on its 221 campaign promises.
“The buharimeter is conceptualised to address the challenges of governance, civic participation and effective services delivery.
“The central focus of the initiative is to bridge the gap between the government and the promises and steps taken towards achieving them’’, she said.
Ms Catherine Angai from OSIWA noted that “power without public accountability leads to abuse.’’
She said the tracking system tagged “Buharimeter’’ was to ensure delivery of democracy dividends to the people.
