Minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, Sadiya Farouk, yesterday, flagged off the distribution of grants to 3,000 vulnerable women and youth in Gombe State under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme.
Speaking at the ceremony held at the Gombe Government House, the minister explained that the beneficiaries would receive the sum of N20, 000 each.
According to her, the CCT programme is one of the initiatives of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) designed by the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to give a helping hand to the poorest and vulnerable citizens in the country.
She claimed that the present administration inherited a national poverty incidence level averaging 70 per cent saying it was in view of that the federal government pays more attention to generating solutions to address the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the nation.
“This informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) as a strategy for poverty reduction and enhancing social inclusion among our people especially women in rural areas.
“Additionally, this NSIP has been acclaimed by many to be the largest and most ambitious social protection programme in Africa and is currently attracting many partnerships with even international development partners,” she said.
The minister pointed out that she has personally witnessed the life-changing experiences of people who hitherto lived below the poverty line but are now living better because of the social investment programmes.
Also speaking, the state governor, Inuwa Yahaya represented by the deputy governor, Manasseh Jatau lauded the federal government for the grants, saying that it would increase the income and productive assets of the targetted beneficiaries.
He advised the beneficiaries to utilize the money judiciously by investing in businesses and occupations that can yield profits for them.
