The Federal Government on Saturday flagged-off disbursement of N20,000 one-off Special Cash Grant For Rural Women In Kwara State under the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar.
The launching ceremony of the scheme which is targeted at uplifting the living condition of the Poor Women in the state held at the Banquet Hall of Government House in Ilorin, where the beneficiaries were presented with the cash of N20,000 each.
Speaking at the launching of the scheme, the Minister said “the programme was introduced by her ministry in 2020 as part of president Mohammadu Buhari’s social inclusion and poverty reduction agenda including the realization of the national aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. It is designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in rural Nigeria. A grant of N20,000.00 will be disbursed to over 150,000 poor rural women across the 36 States and 2,560 in kwara state in particular. The grant is expected to increase access to financial capital required for economic activities”
Hajiya Umar explained that the federal government is paying more attention to protecting the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the society, noting that this informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment Programme as a strategy for enhancing social inclusion and protection of the most vulnerable segments of the society.
“The federal government in partnership with the World Bank designed and developed a safety programme for Nigeria under the platform of National Social Safety Net Project,” she said.
“Kwara State has received a total sum of N1,946,195,000.00 (One Billion, Nine Hundred and Forty-Six Million, One Hundred and Ninety-Five Thousand Naira only) from the Federal Government Conditional cash transfer programme which is in partnership with the World Bank from inception in year 2016 till date, impacting the lives of 34,304 Poor and Vulnerable Household, with 8 LGA’s currently benefiting from the Federal Government CCT programme in Kwara State, namely; Ilorin South, Oke Ero, Kaiama, Isin, Ifelodun, Ekiti, Asa, Baruten”
Speaking at the event, the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq also disclosed the plan of his administration to begin the disbursement of Owo Isowo to additional 9,000 beneficiaries across the state.
“Our own social investment programme is making serious impacts too. More people are clamouring to benefit. On Monday, we will begin the disbursement of Owo Isowo to additional 9,000 beneficiaries. We had earlier captured 21,263 beneficiaries in the first phase of the programme, while 10,000 beneficiaries are getting our own version of the conditional cash transfer that is meant for old and vulnerable people,” the Governor said.
He noted that the special grants would go a long way in helping to fight extreme poverty and strengthen people’s confidence in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
While speaking earlier, the Focal person National Social Investment Programme in Kwara State Hajia Bashirah AbdulRazaq said the state government is replicating the federal government’s social investment programmes to reduce poverty and promote the welfare of the vulnerable groups.
“We have replicated most of the federal government’s social investment programmes in Kwara State with Owo Arugbo, Owo Isowo, K-Power and trained over 20,000 youths on ICT among others,” she said.
