The Federal Government on Sunday began the disbursement of grants to 2,800 rural women in Enugu State under the Grant for Rural Women Project.
Hajia Sadiya Farouk, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said that the project was part of Federal Government`s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
Farouk, who was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Bashir Alkali, said the programme was designed for the poorest and most vulnerable citizens in the country.
She said the scheme was a demonstration of government’s efforts to address some development challenges being faced by Nigerians.
According to her, the Federal Government has since 2015 paid more attention to addressing the plight of the poor and vulnerable in spite of daunting revenue challenges.
“It is in view of this that President Muhammadu Buhari graciously approved the expansion of the programme to touch more lives and lift more Nigerians above the poverty breadline, “she said.
The minister said that President Buhari had since the creation of the ministry in 2019 restructured the NSIP to respond to peculiarities of different parts of the country.
She explained that the grant was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of the current administration in line with its 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 semi-urban areas of the country,” she said.
Farouq said that a cash grant of N20,000 would be disbursed to about 125,000 poor women across the 36 states of the federation.
She further said that government`s target in Enugu State was to disburse the grant to 2,800 beneficiaries across the 17 local councils to improve the living standards of residents of the state.
“The NSIP is adjudged as the largest social protection programme in Africa with over $1billion earmarked annually for the poorest and most vulnerable in the country.
“Since its introduction in 2016, over 12 million households have benefited.
“This includes payment of a monthly Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of N5,000 to one million indigent Nigerians to protect them against economic shocks,” she said.
On the Government Enterprise Enhancement Programme (GEEP), Farouq said that no fewer than one million micro and small business owners had accessed loans.
She said that the N-Power programme provided temporary income-generating opportunities for 500,000 unemployed youths across the country.
She further noted that no fewer than eight million primary 1-3 pupils in public schools across the country were currently receiving a meal per day under government`s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
Earlier, Enugu State Deputy Governor, Mrs Cecelia Ezilo, commended the Federal Government for using the NSIP to enhance social inclusiveness in the country.
She appealed to beneficiaries of the grant to utilise it to enhance their standard of living.
Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed delight at the gesture and promised to put the grants to good use.
