Abia CARES Empowers 1,628 Poor, Vulnerable Persons

Abia State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) programme has registered about 1,628 poor and vulnerable persons to benefit from the programme.

LEADERSHIP inquiries indicated that the beneficiaries who are mostly in their middle-ages were drawn from the 17 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner for cooperatives and rural development, Mr Donatus Okorie, stated this when he declared open a two-day step-down training for 51 local government facilitators of the programme in Umuahia, the state capital.

Commending the federal government for initiating the programme, he expressed profound gratitude to Governor  Okezie Ikpeazu for ensuring inclusion of the state in the programme.

“This programme is special and impactful and would help to create effective demands, given that the beneficiaries will be empowered to pay for goods and services they need,” he said.

The head, state CARES coordinator and secretary, of the steering committee of the programme, Mr Ejem Kalu, said the training was critical toward ensuring the successful implementation of the initiative.

Also, the head, cash transfer unit, Mr Okeziem Nwoko said it was designed to build the capacity of the cash transfer facilitators, desk officers and grievance redress officers on the implementation protocol.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP, a cross-section of the trainees described the training as imperative for them to fully understand the implementation process and ensure its overall success.