Buhari Sends Bill to Establish NSIP to Senate 

* Seeks approval to create 10 new national parks 

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday sent a bill to formally establish the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) to the Senate.

Buhari also in another letter to the red chamber requested the lawmakers’ consideration of a bill to create 10 new national parks across the country. 

The president said the NSIP Bill would provide legal and institutional framework for the programme. 

He explained in the letter read in plenary by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, that consideration and passage of the bill will provide the enabling law for effective implementation of the programme.

He said it was geared towards poverty alleviation of vulnerable Nigerians. 

Part of the letter read: “The National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill seeks to provide a legal and institutional framework for the establishment of the NSIP for the assistance and empowerment of the poor and vulnerable people in Nigeria.”

The NSIP was put together by the federal government following the outbreak of the global Covid -19 pandemic in 2020.

The federal government has also been injecting N500 billion into the programme annually since then.

Speaking on the proposed legislation on the national parks, the president said it sought the Senate concurrence to National Park Declaration Order made early in the year for establishment of 10 new national parks across the country .

Buhari, in two other separate requests, seeks the consideration and passage of National Library Establishment Bill 2022.

The proposed law, according to him, will provide the legal framework for the maintenance of National Library of Nigeria in line with global practices.

The final request of the president to the federal lawmakers dwells on the consideration and passage of an executive bill on Federal Produce Inspection Service.