Fed Govt disburse 20,000 to 125,000 rural women
By Oluchi Ihediuche
125,000 Rural women in the six area councils of the FCT, are to benefit from the disbursement of cash grants under the government’s National Social Investment Programme.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, flagged off the disbursement under the Grant for Rural Women Project, Thursday, in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Farouq explained that the grant was aimed at increasing the income and productive assets of target beneficiaries.
“Since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration in 2015, the Federal Government has paid more attention to promoting the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the country despite the economic slump the Administration inherited. This informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) as a strategy for enhancing social inclusion.”
According to the minister, the program is one of its kind in Africa.
“NSIP is one of the largest social protection programmes in Africa with over $1billion earmarked annually to cause positive change in the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the country.”
“Since its introduction in 2016, the programme has impacted positively on the lives of the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria. I have personally witnessed the life-changing experiences of people who lived below the poverty line and those that are vulnerable to shocks.
“The Grant for Rural Women programme was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s Administration. It is consistent with the President’s new national vision 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 and peri-urban areas of the country.
“A cash grant of N20,000 will be disbursed to about 125,000 poor women across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Our target in FCT is to disburse the grant to about 2,000 beneficiaries across the 6 Area Councils. The grant is expected to increase income and productive assets of target beneficiaries. It is our hope that the beneficiaries of this programme will make good use of the grant to generally contribute towards improving their living standard.
“Over 12 million households have benefitted from NSIP interventions in the last 5 years. This included payment of a monthly Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of N5,000 to 1 million indigent households to protect them against economic shocks and elevate them out of poverty. We just launched the Covid-19 Rapid Response Register, which will provide cash transfer to additional 1 million poor urban households.
