At least 31,858 persons would benefit from various Federal Government’s unconditional cash transfers under the National Social Investment Programme, NSIP, aimed at lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo who made this known at the flag off of the disbursement of the funds in Uyo on Tuesday said NSIP was meant to bring succour to vulnerable and poor Nigerians.
The programme Sani-Gwarzo also said would include the flag-off the Digitized Cash Transfer payment system for the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme, meant to create room for reliable, transparent, accountable and accessible database for seamless disbursement to beneficiaries of the CCT.
The Permanent Secretary explained that 3,941 would benefit from Grants for Vulnerable Groups, 14,326 from Market Moni while 13,691 would benefit from Trader Moni under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, GEEP.
“The GVG is designed to provide a one-off cash grant of N20,000.00 to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in rural and peri-urban areas across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Let me add here that our target in Akwa Ibom State is to disburse the grant to 3,941 beneficiaries across the 31 Local Government Areas in the State.
“It is worthy to note that 70% of these beneficiaries must be women, while the remaining 30% is for youths. The President further directed that, at least 15% of the total number of beneficiaries must specifically be allocated to citizens with special needs, including Persons With Disability (PWDs) and Senior Citizens in the State.
“The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0) is a soft loan programme designed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for vulnerable and low-income Nigerians who are involved in some sort of commercial activity but have never had the opportunity to access loans.
“GEEP has three unique products i.e TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FaermereMoni. The MarketMoni with a loan portfolio of N50,000, meant to uplift the under-privileged and marginalized women (such as widows and divorcees) has 14,326 registered beneficiaries in Akwa Ibom State, 10,197 were digitized, 888 were verified and 694 have been enumerated for disbursement.
“In the same vein, TraderMoni loan portfolio has 13,691 registered in Akwa Ibom State, 7,826 were digitized, 446 verified and 351 enumerated for disbursement. Today, I am here, in Akwa Ibom State, to roll-out the GEEP programme. All successful beneficiaries will today start receiving credit alert from Access Bank by God’s grace.” He explained.
The Permanent Secretarywho also flagged off the National Sensitization Exercise for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), which seeks to educate communities and stakeholders on the proper and more effective implementation of the HGSFP said that so far 9.9 million children are currently being fed nationwide.
“Based on this success and noting the huge impact of the programme, especially on the children of the poor in rural areas, President Buhari has approved that the programme be expanded by another 5 million children.” He said.
State commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development Dr Ini Adiakpan commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the initiative
as it has helped to ensure social and financial security and called on beneficiaries to reciprocate government’s good intentions by utilizing the funds effectively.
Our correspondent reports that 88 Independent Monitors comprising of 52 retained from stream 1 and 36 from stream 11 on a monthly stipend of N30,000 to monitor and report on the implementation and performance of all the NSIP projects in the State were also given engagement letters.
