The Federal Government distributed N5 million to 250 rural women in Taraba on Friday at N20,000 per head.
Mr Garba Hanawiga, Director of Legal Services at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development made the disbursement in Jalingo on behalf of the minister, Hajia Sadiya Faruq.
Hanawiga said that the special cash grant was introduced in 2020 by the ministry as part of Federal Government’s poverty reduction agenda of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
He added that Taraba had received N2.8 billion since the inception of the social intervention programme of the Federal Government.
He said local government councils that benefitted from the programme were Ardo Kola, Gassol, Lau, Karim Lamido, Wukaru, Takum, Bali, Ibi, Ussa, Gashaka and Sardauna.
He said the Federal Government already enrolled 17,803 vulnerable people in Taraba in its conditional cash transfer programme.
“Since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2015, government had paid more attention to the plight of the poor and vulnerable persons in the country.
“This informed the decision to initiate the National Social Investment programme and the strategy for enhancing social inclusion of the most vulnerable persons in our communities,’’ he said.
Taraba Commissioner for Special Duties and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Teninga Binga, who represented Gov. Darius Ishaku, commended the Federal Government for its efforts to reduce poverty.
He said that the state had also designed some interventions aimed at empowering the poor and the vulnerable.
He advised beneficiaries to make good use of the grant.
One of the beneficiaries who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs Helen Ishaya, thanked the Federal Government for the support.
Helen, an indigene of Bali Local Government Area, said she would invest the cash in groundnut oil business.
Mrs Halima Idris, an indigene of Gassol Local Government Area, also commended the Federal Government for the gesture, adding that she would invest in vegetables business. (NAN)
