More than 1.9 million disadvantaged Nigerians would benefit from around N38 billion in handouts of N20,000 apiece under the Federal Government’s Grant for Vulnerable Groups program.
The National Cash Transfer Office of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management revealed data in Abuja on Friday indicating that the bank information of over 1.9 million recipients had been digitised.
This happened as the Humanitarian Minister, Sadiya Farouq, launched the second phase of the initiative by distributing N20,000 to vulnerable and underprivileged citizens of the Federal Capital Territory.
Farouq re-launched the formerly known as Cash Grant for Rural Women initiative, stating that it would now be branded as Grant for Vulnerable Groups to encourage inclusion. She went on to say that the Grant for Vulnerable Groups program was launched in 2020 to support the Federal Government’s social inclusion strategy.
In a statement issued by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the minister was cited as stating, “It is commensurate with the national aim of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten 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 is being disbursed to poor women and youths across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Our target in the FCT is to disburse the grant to over 2,900 beneficiaries across the six Area Councils. In line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s social inclusion, 70 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries is for women while the remaining 30 per cent is for men.”
Farouq added, “In addition, about 15 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries is specifically allocated to the segment of the population with special needs, including Persons with Disability, internally displaced persons and senior citizens in the FCT.”
In her remarks, the National Coordinator, Conditional Cash Transfer, Halima Shehu, announced that the Grant for Vulnerable Groups was now fully digitised.
She said, “From the National Cash Transfer office, we have fully digitised the process. We have over 1.9 million beneficiaries that now have NUBAN accounts in commercial banks across the country.
“This is a huge milestone because records have shown that there is no programme of this type that has achieved such success. Six months ago, we flagged off digitisation. All our beneficiaries now have debit cards from different banks across the country.
“We have given them a lot of coaching and mentoring financially and so we can now say that they have been financially included because they are now fully banked.”
