Nigeria commences disbursement of Cash Grant in Ogun

By Rahila Lassa, Abuja

The Nigerian Government has commenced the disbursement of Special Cash Grant for Rural Women in Ogun State, South-west Nigeria.

The Minister of Humanitarian affairs disaster management and social development, Sadiya Umar  Farouq, flagged off the programme in Abeokuta, the State capital.

The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry,  Bashir  Nura   Alkali, said that the programme was introduced to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s Administration by lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

According to her, 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 N20,000.00 will be disbursed to about 125,000 poor women across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. 

“Our target in Ogun State is to disburse the grant to about 3,500 beneficiaries across all Local Government Councils 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” she said.

The Minister enjoined the beneficiaries to use the money judiciously to improve their standard of living.

The Executive Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, said Covid-19 had been a big challenge for everyone across the world and Nigeria is not left out.

According to him, Covid-19 has seriously impacted on economies and the ability for people to earn a living which provoked the State to come up with some intervention programmes to cushion the effect on the people.

The Governor further said that the State benefited from several other Federal government schemes including the Survival fund and others.

He said Ogun  State was happy to be part of the beneficiaries of the Federal government Cash Grant for rural women.

Governor Abiodun told the beneficiaries that the money is not a bonus but should be invested in expanding their businesses to increase their income.

Confidence Okwuchi