The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq on Thursday flagged off the Grant for Vulnerable Groups (GVG) and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) in Plateau State with a call on the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the funds to improve their lives.
Speaking in Jos, Farouq, represented by the Ministry’s Director of Humanitarian Affairs, Ali Grema disclosed the program is being implemented in close partnerships with the State Government an effort which is a demonstration of a collective commitment to addressing poverty which is the core developmental challenge confronting the nation.
The Minister said, “Let me state here that since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration in 2015, when it inherited a National Poverty Incidence level averaging 70% (NBS), the Federal Government has paid more attention to generating solutions to address the plight of the poor and vulnerable in the country despite other economic challenges the Administration inherited at the time.
“This informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in 2015 as a strategy for poverty reduction and enhancing social inclusion among our people especially the women in rural areas…
“Since implementing the NSIP in 2016, it has impacted many lives of the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria positively. The GVG programme was introduced in 2020 first as Grant for Rural Women (GRW) and launched in Jos, Plateau State in October 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s Administration.
“It is consistent with his deliberate National agenda of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.”
She further explained that “The GVG was designed to provide a one-off grant, a cash grant of N20,000.00, to some of the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in rural and peri-urban areas across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, to empower the beneficiaries to improve their productivity and their commercial activities, mainly aimed at easing them out of poverty.
“Our target in Plateau State is to disburse the grant to over 3,500 beneficiaries across the 17 Local Government Areas of the State, which is a significant increase from 1,928 beneficiaries in 2020. This clearly demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing poverty in the State.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that 70% of these beneficiaries must be women, while the remaining 30% is for the youths. He also demanded that at least 15% of the total number of beneficiaries must specifically be allocated to citizens with special needs, including Persons with disabilities (PWDs) and Senior Citizens in the State.
“GEEP is a programme designed for vulnerable and low-income Nigerians who are involved in productive activities but have no access to loans. It gives priority to the most vulnerable in our society including widows, youths, persons with disability and the internally displaced.”
The program has three signature schemes: TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni. The TraderMoni loan of N50,000.00 targets underprivileged and marginalized youths in Nigeria aged between 18 and 40 years. The MarketMoni is also a loan of N50,000.00 given to underprivileged and marginalized women in society with a special focus on female-headed households. Finally, the FarmerMoni is a loan package that provides inputs worth up to N300,000.00 to rural farmers.
A total of 56,742 potential beneficiaries were registered in Plateau State after which 7,018 were verified and 4,754 were enumerated. A total number of 1,083 beneficiaries were finally selected to receive loans. The selected beneficiaries have undergone enumeration and will start receiving credit alerts from Access bank from today.
However, the State Governor, Simon Lalong through the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Danladi Atu and the State Focal Person of the NSIP, Dr Sumaye Hamza noted the State has benefitted immensely from all NSIP programmes and called on the beneficiaries to utilize the funds judiciously.
Atu added the State government has a plan of empowering not less than 20,000 before it vacates office in 2023.
