The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has reiterated Federal government commitment towards addressing the plight of poor and vulnerable in the country.
The Minister said about 2,900 women are empowered with N20,000 each through the Federal Government Special Cash Grant for Rural Women Project in Benue State.
In a Saturday by the Deputy Director of Information, Rhoda Ishaku Iliya, Farouq made this known at the flag off ceremony of the distribution of Cash Grant for rural women in the state.
She said the grant was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Muhammad Buhari’s Administration.
She said: “It is consistent with the President’s now 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 Benue State is to disburse the grant to about 2,900 beneficiaries across all Local Government Areas of the State. 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 by using the funds as seed to boost their trade and business for greater income and not to see it as their own share of the so-called National cake.”
The Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom, represented by his wife, Her Excellency, Dr. Mrs. Eunice Ortom, appreciated the federal government initiative for empowering women to improve their economic status.
She acknowledged that social protection programmes contribute to economic growth and the grant will go a long way to enhance the economic status of the beneficiaries.
The Governor’s wife said Benue State women are strong and resilient and they will make a success out of the grant given to them.
According to her, “You can choose to have the testimony of starting small and making a success out of a small business,” urging them to utilise the money judiciously for their economic well- being and by extension the state and the country at large.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs.Tabitha Igirgi, in her good will message, commended the Federal government for including Persons with Disabilities on the cash Grant project.
“It means that these socially disadvantaged and physically challenged persons have been recognised in the national development process,” she declared.
Mrs. Igirgi pledged the support and commitment of the State’s Ministry and it’s readiness to partner with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development in areas of mutual interest.
She said it is part of their mandate to ensure equal access to social, economic and wealth creating opportunities to women , to place a premium on protection of the girl child, the aged and persons with disabilities, and the mainstreaming of the concerns of these groups in public policy and national discourse.
