The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, says 142,000 vulnerable households in Katsina have received N9.5bn grants since the Conditional Cash Transfer started last year.
She, however, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had given approval for the expansion of the social register to accommodate more poor and vulnerable Nigerians with the aim of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the year 2030.
A statement on Thursday issued by the Special Adviser on Media, Nneka Anibeze, stated that Farouq said this while flagging off the distribution of the Federal Government’s Special Cash Grant to 6,800 rural women in Katsina State, including women with disabilities.
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The minister announced at the Muhammadu Buhari House in Katsina that beneficiaries for the programme who are vulnerable women from the 34 Local Government Areas of the state would benefit from the cash grant.
According to her, the fund will serve as business capital for women to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their households.
She noted that one-third of the beneficiaries were women with disabilities while two-thirds were widows, women from internally displaced families and other less privileged women from the state.
“A total number of 6,800 beneficiaries are to benefit from the cash grant of 20,000 each including 203 women with disabilities. This is to uplift the socio-economic status of the rural women in Katsina State,” the minister said.
She added, “It is our hope that the beneficiaries of this programme will make good use of the opportunity to increase their income, enhance their food security and contribute towards improving their living standard.”
In his response, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, who was represented by his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu, noted that since inception, the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme had lifted thousands of households out of poverty in the state.
He urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the grant.
Yakubu said, “I want to thank His Excellency the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed forces for all his intervention programmes of which Katsina state benefited immensely.
“We in Katsina State are grateful for the Special Grant for Rural women, especially at this time that most are caught up in the hardship necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we want to assure you that the beneficiaries will make judicious use of the grants.”
The federal government special grants for rural women were given to some women with disabilities alongside the Deputy Governor and the Executive Secretary National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), James Lalu.
