Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed of Bauchi State has alleged that the Federal Government-funded Social Investment Programme (SIP) is an avenue to enrich a few Nigerians implementing it even though President Muhammadu Buhari has good intentions with it.
The governor made the allegation on Wednesday at the flagging off of the state government’s Economic Empowerment Programme in the Dambam Local Government Area of the state, asserting that the SIP is only a conduit pipe for a few to syphon government money.
He declared that since the Federal Government commenced the SIP, Bauchi State had not benefitted from it in any form.
Mohammed stated that while President Buhari’s administration introduced the programme with good intentions, some people involved in its implementation were the ones denying the state the chance to benefit from it.
He added that like the SIP, the state has yet to get the required treatment in the distribution of Covid-19 assistance from the Federal Government and expressed wonder on what was really happening.
According to the governor, there was an urgent need for the President to investigate the implementation of the programme with a view to ensuring that all Nigerians adequately benefit from the programme.
He submitted that such laudable people-oriented programmes meant for the benefit of all Nigerians ought not to be politicised.
While speaking on his administration’s economic empowerment programme, Mohammed informed that each of the 20 local government areas in Bauchi State would benefit from the programme.
The governor further informed that items worth N75 million were to be distributed in each of the local government areas in order to create job opportunities for people from the grassroots.
DAILY POST reports that so far the governor has launched the economic empowerment programme in 10 LGAs, the latest being Dambam and Misau LGAs.
