Dr Folashade Ayoade-Arike, Secretary to Kogi State Government(SSG),has said that the State Government is committed to the implementation of Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme (NG-CARES) to alleviate poverty.
Ayoade-Arike disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the Stakeholders Training/Sensitisation Meeting on the NG-CARES programme on Wednesday in Lokoja.
She said that the initiative’s objective was to expand access to livelihood support and food security service and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms in the state.
He noted that the state government was out to alleviate poverty, and that Gov. Yahaya Bello assumed the leadership in January 2016 with a mindset to address issues of poverty.
“And that is why you see that every aspect of his programme has a lot to do with getting Kogites out of poverty.
“Education is one thing that makes one to be out of poverty. Education is one of his major thematic areas.
“You will agree with me that once you are well educated, you are well informed, you know what to do at the right time in the right places.
“With Education, you will be enlightened and you will get out of poverty,’’the secretary to the state government said.
She said the government was also doing a lot in the health sector, adding that poverty starts with not having a good health but “once you have sound health you are very rich.
“And of course, Health is Wealth. Once you have good health, you are the richest and that is why His Excellency is not playing with the Health Sector. He wants to have the health sector well fixed,’’ she said.
She said that the N5 billion Okene Reference Hospital project was cardinal and a reference point in the administration’s commitment to the health and general well being of the people.
“In the area of agriculture, the governor was able to acquire more than 100 tractors and distributed same to all the 21 local government areas in the state.
“The tractors are not there to showcase what we have achieved but for Kogites to use,’’ she said.
Ayoade-Arike said that the products of the NG-Cares being implemented by the state Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA), would reach out to the poorest of the poor at the grassroots.
She disclosed that the state currently had about 1.3 million on its Vulnerable Persons Register.
According to her, chairmen of the 21 Local Government Councils in the state have been urged to keep updating the register to ascertain the actual number of persons that really need the help.
“We will definitely monitor to make sure that the people that need it at the grassroots are the ones that benefit,’’ she added. (NAN)
