The Federal Government on Friday, began the disbursement of grants to about 2,500 rural women in Abia under the Cash Grant for Rural Women programme.
Hajia Sadiya-Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, launched the disbursement in Umuahia.
Farouq, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Bashir-Nuru Alkali, said the programme was part of Federal Government’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
She said that NSIP had impacted positively on the lives of the poor and vulnerable in the country since its inception in 2015.
The minister said the Cash Grant for Rural Women programme was introduced in 2020, to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
She said that it was designed to provide a one-off grant to the poorest and most vulnerable in some of the remote rural and semi-urban areas in the country.
According to her, the programme is in line with this administration’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
She said that about 125,000 poor women across the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, would benefit from the grant.
Farouq said that a cash grant of N20,000 would be disbursed to about 2,500 beneficiaries across the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia to improve their living standards.
“Let me advise the beneficiaries that this money belongs to you and you alone.
“It is meant for you to use in a small business to improve your life. Please, ensure that it is used for this purpose,” she said.
Earlier, Abia Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, commended the Federal Government for the social inclusion and poverty reduction initiative.
Ikpeazu, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Ude Oko-Chukwu, urged the beneficiaries to judiciously invest the money in petty businesses.
“It is a way of improving your livelihood and growing the rural economy,” he advised.
In his address, the SIP State Focal Person, Mr Chinenye Nwaogu, thanked President Buhari for his passionate commitment to support the poor and vulnerable.
According to him, the SIPs are perhaps the most impactful of all Buhari’s initiatives.
He said the state had benefitted immensely from SIPs, including the Conditional Cash Transfer, N-Power, School Feeding and Government Enterprise Enhancement Programme (GEEP).
Nwaogu commended the governor for creating the valve and environment to sustain a strong strategic partnership with the Federal Government.
Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed excitement over the gesture and promised to utilise the grants.
Ngozi Nwaguru, a Person With Disability (PWD) expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for touching lives of PWDs.
“It is the first of its kind that women with disabilities have benefitted in this state,” Nwaguru, who spoke on behalf of 96 beneficiary women with disabilities said.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Florence Ogwuocha, said that she would use the fund to buy chemical for her soap production, which she said she had stopped, due to paucity of funds. (NAN)
