The Kogi Government on Monday says it received close to N3 billion from Federal Government under the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) from 2016 to 2017.
Mr Adoga Ibrahim, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Multilateral Donor Agencies and Special Projects/Focal Person on Social Investment Programme, disclosed this at a meeting with the leadership of NGOs, associations and trade groups in Lokoja.
He said Kogi received close to N3 billion intervention funds for N-Power, Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) “MarketMoni” loan, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) and STEM, under Federal Government’s SIP.
He added that “we registered 1,402 cooperative associations with 10 to 15 members in each cooperative in Kogi.
“The GEEP today has given out loans of N162 million directly to 3,240 beneficiaries such as artisans, tradesmen and market women, with each beneficiary getting N50,000 each. We are going to round the figure up tremendously this 2018.
“We are giving out additional loans to 7,000 people of N50,000 each on Feb. 13; these people have been pre-qualified, their data obtained and forwarded to Bank of Industry (BoI) and accounts opened for them.
“We are only waiting for the disbursement on Feb. 13, when the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will be in Kogi as special guest to officially launch the micro credits scheme.
“In addition, aside the 4,000 beneficiaries in the first phase of N-Power in 2016, we have additional
8,000 beneficiaries in 2017, which will bring the figure to about 12,000 beneficiaries in Kogi, who will be getting N30,000 monthly.”
Ibrahim further explained that 20,000 people were benefitting directly from CCT programme “and
we are building the STEM programme with the required technology.
“We will showcase several N-Power and CCT beneficiaries who used their stipends to start small businesses, which enhanced the security situation in the state because youths are taken off the streets.”
The governor’s aide said the Kogi Government’s target was to build a structure and back it up with
data.
“So, we are putting up all these programmes to alleviate the sufferings of our people and enable growth and development in the state,” he added.
Earlier, Mr Lekan Onijingi, the Head of Unit of GEEP, said the programme was planning to increase
the N50,000 loan to N100,000 for those who had paid, and later increased to N250,000 after paying the N100,000.
