Rahma Ahmed
By Ahmed Rahma
The sum of N52 million has been disbursed by the Federal Government to 2,600 vulnerable rural women in Nasarawa State to improve their livelihood.
Speaking on the Special Cash Grant, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Ms Sadiya Umar-Farouq, said each beneficiary was entitled to N20,000.
Ms Umar-Farouq, who was represented by the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr Mohammed Hassan-Abdullahi, said the initiative was designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in rural Nigeria.
She said, “The Special Cash Grant for rural women programme being flagged off today was introduced in 2020 by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s social inclusion and poverty reduction agenda.”
She added that the programme was also geared towards the realisation of the national aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
According to her, over 150,000 rural women across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would benefit from the grant aimed at increasing access to financial capital required for economic activities.
“Since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2015, the government has paid more attention to protecting and promoting the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the country.
“This informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), a strategy for enhancing social inclusion and protection of the most vulnerable segments of our society.
“Nasarawa state has received a total sum of N3,122,740,000 from the federal government Conditional Transfer Programme from inception, impacting the lives of 48,687 poor and vulnerable households in five Local Government Areas in the state.
“They are Lafia, Wamba, Akwanga, Kokona and Nassarawa Local Government Areas,” she said.
Ms Umar-Farouq urged the beneficiaries to ensure judicious use of the funds to better their standard of living.
Also speaking, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State lauded the federal government for initiating the programme towards changing the lives of the vulnerable women positively.
Mr Sule, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, also restated the state government’s determination to key into peoples’ oriented programme in order to boost development across the state.
Earlier, Hajiya Halima Jabiru, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, said the state was lucky to witness yet another show of benevolence by the federal government.
