SIP: FG Opts for Accounting Manual to Check Slow Disbursement of Funds

• Banks show apathy due to TSA policy
Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The federal government is on the verge of developing a template to guide the operational and accounting procedures of the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) with a view to checking the slow and manual process for the disbursement of funds in the Social Intervention Programmes(SIP).

The existing procedure is believed to be slow and not highly effective to drive the SIPs in such a manner that the desired impact is efficiently and timely felt by the ultimate beneficiaries.

The SIP, which was first introduced in the 2016 budget has four components: N-Power, Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

According to a document recently presented to the National Economic Council (NEC) by the Minister of State, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY, a framework for driving the communication strategy for the Social Investment Office is currently being designed.

Ahmed disclosed that a template for guiding the operational and accounting procedures of the NSIO is currently being designed by her ministry.

Some of the challenges that faced SIPs, Ahmed said, included slow start with building technological systems due to procurement and funding challenges, adding that there were constraints to planning as a result of uncertainties with the time taken to process payment requests and authorise payments.

She stressed that there were also issues with designing a sustainable enrolment and payment system as a result of the rural terrain, as well as long and difficult distances in-between, compounded by the lack of technology and banking infrastructure.
The Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, the minister added, also acts as a disincentive for commercial banks to engage in the programme.

Communication gap and overlap of responsibilities by state actors (especially between the state focal persons and the key ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) also pose a challenge, even as she equally pointed to the delay in third party monitoring structures being set up to ensure objective and independent feedback.
The minister pointed out that the funding gaps to cover their logistics are yet to be addressed.

She also disclosed that low literacy levels of most of the beneficiaries was making it difficult for seamless integration without adequate advocacy and sensitisation at community level.
Many of the female beneficiaries, Ahmed pointed out, lack the knowledge or confidence to assert themselves and take ownership of the programme, adding that they needed to be hand-held.

The problem of political interplay and interference at federal and state levels were also identified, especially with regards to identification and selection of beneficiaries, as well as payments.
There is also the lack of a conducive working atmosphere, a situation, the minister noted, leads to  many of the ministry staff working from different offices..
Another challenge is the lack of interest by the private sector and a few donor agencies, for sustainability.

Ahmed disclosed that her ministry was exploring means of technical assistance and support for donor agencies and the private sector in the area of building systems and for funding of aspects that go beyond the provisions in the national budget, such as monitoring, sensitisation and advocacy.

She stated that the government was engaging key partners, including the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); NSIO Technology Management Office (TMO), and Efina Donor Partners, among others in order to come up with a sustainable framework for driving the enrolment, off-line and on-time payments to beneficiaries at the last mile.

In order to guarantee high level political authority and co-ordination for all the social protection programme in Nigeria, the federal government set up a National Social Investment Office within the Office of the Vice President.
This is with a view to ensuring a credible method of targeting the poor and vulnerable for the reduction of poverty as well as the poor human capital indices in order  to reduce them.

On what the different components of the SIP has done so far, the minister said the current scope of the N-Power is 200, 000 graduate beneficiaries from all the 36 states and the FCT.

The non-graduate component, she disclosed, is to kick off once procurement process is completed.
For the HGSFP, the current scope is 5, 245, 505 pupils for 18 states.
On CCT, she said the current scope of that programme is based on the spread of the social register established across nine states.