Breaking News

FG Empowers 7,000 Vulnerable Persons with N20,000 in Katsina

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, Thursday night launched the distribution of a one-off cash grant of N20,000 to 7,000 vulnerable people across the 34 local government areas of Katsina State.

The distribution commenced in Katsina during the flag-off of the cash grant for the beneficiaries, the onboarding of independent monitors and the launch of digitised payment for conditional cash transfer by the minister.

Farouq, at the inauguration ceremony, said the exercise was to sustain the social inclusion agenda of the federal government and in fulfilment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

She explained that the federal government would also assist 600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state that were displaced from their ancestral homes by bandits with N30,000,000 under the government’s Youth Empowerment and Social Operation (YESO) programme.

According to the minister, the IDPs would receive the sum of N50,000 each as business startup capital that will make them self-reliant to avoid overdependence on the government for survival.

The minister, while noting that the Buhari-led government has reduced poverty ratios in Nigeria from 70 to 40 per cent, said the administration was empowering two million vulnerable households with N5,000 monthly and N10,000 after every two months in all the nation’s 774 local governments.

She said: “I have personally witnessed the life-changing experiences of people who hitherto lived below the poverty line and those that are vulnerable to shocks, but are now living better because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s poverty alleviation programmes.

“Today (Thursday), a cash grant of N20,000 will be disbursed to 7,000 vulnerable people, mostly women and the disabled, across the 34 LGAs in Katsina State. It is our belief that the grant will increase income and productive assets of the targeted beneficiaries.

“It is our hope also that the beneficiaries of this programme will make good use of the grant to improve productive activities that would generate more income and improve their households and living standards.”

Farouq said the federal government would equally give interest-free loans of N50,000 to N300,000 to selected businessmen and women in the state in order to grow their businesses under its Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

The minister stated that the government is feeding 10 million primary one to three pupils daily through the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), adding that the president has approved the enrolment of additional five million school children into the scheme.

About Editor

Check Also

Report to Me Any of My Officials Who Obstruct Progress or Ask for Bribe – President Tinubu to Qatari Investors

President Bola Tinubu has assured the international business community that Nigeria is ready for serious …

Leave a Reply