The Jigawa State Government has announced an increment in its Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) following a boom in business activities as a result of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar disclosed this in Dutse, the State capital at the flag-off of the Cash Grant for Vulnerable Groups, the On-Boarding of Independent Monitors and launch of Digitized Payment for Conditional Cash Transfer.
The Governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the various Social Investment Programmes which have not only impacted on the poor and vulnerable in the state but have also skyrocketed the state’s GDP from N1 trillion in 2015 to N2.25 trillion in 2020.
Governor Abubakar said that the National Social investment programmes (NSIP) were life changing opportunities to the people of Jigawa state and promised to assist in monitoring and evaluating the programme to fully harness its potentials.
“We have 25,987 N-Power beneficiaries over the three batches while 167,657 households enjoy the Conditional Cash Transfer of N5,000 monthly or N10,000 every two months. We are feeding 935,000 in our primary schools and because of your contributions to the school feeding programme, we are also feeding primaries 4-6. Jigawa state government is adding a little to make it possible for all the primary school pupils in Jigawa to be fed.
“We have 9, 673 cooks gainfully employed and about 5,000 of our indigenes will get N20,000 as Cash grants for Vulnerable persons. No wonder, the cumulative effects of what the federal government is doing with the anchor borrowers and President Muhammadu Buhari’s call to go back to farming has doubled our GDP from N1 trillion in 2015 to N2.25tr in 2020.”
While flagging off the programmes, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq announced that 4,537 beneficiaries in the state will receive a one-off cash grant of N20,000.
“Our target in Jigawa State is to disburse the grant to 4,537 beneficiaries across the 27 Local Government Areas and to the poor and vulnerable category across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Using this grant, many of the beneficiaries will improve their productivity and their commercial activity, all of which will help in easing them out of poverty. The launch of the Digitized payment exercise is to create room for reliable, transparent and accessible database for seamless disbursement to beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer”.
Minister Umar Farouq charged the beneficiaries to invest the grant in petty businesses which will yield dividends over time.
The Minister also onboarded 80 Independent Monitors who will receive N30,000 monthly.
Earlier, the Minister had condoled with the people and government of Jigawa state over the recent flood that washed away buildings and farms of indigenes.
Following an analysis conducted by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the following relief items were approved for distribution to the affected persons:
7650 bags of rice
4550 bags of maize
6450 bags of Beans
950 kegs of 20 Iitres vegetable oil
530 cartons of seasoning
50 bags of 20 kg salts
6000 bags of cement
4400 bundles of roofing sheet
900 bags of 3″ nails
1100 packets of zinc nails
2900 pieces of ceiling board
5900 pieces of blankets
5900 pieces of nylon mats
“The relief items comprising food, non-food items and building materials are meant to complement the efforts of the Jigawa State Government in providing immediate succor to the affected persons and facilitate speedy rehabilitation”, Umar Farouq stated.
