Madam Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development says, not fewer than 3,400 poor and vulnerable women in Edo have been empowered with N20,000 each.
The Deputy Director of Information in the Ministry, Mrs Rhoda Iliya said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
Farouq said that the poverty alleviation exercise was done in the spirit of the Federal Government Special Cash Grant Project for rural women.
She said that the grant was expected to increase income and productive assets of target beneficiaries.
She enjoined the beneficiaries to make good use of the grant to generally contribute towards improving their living standards.
The minister told the beneficiaries that the money belonged to them and should be used for the purpose it was meant for.
According to her, poverty reduction goals require a combination of strategies, each targeting specific needs sectors among the population.
“This informed the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to initiate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) as a strategy for reducing poverty and enhancing Social Inclusion.”
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“The NSIP is adjudged the largest social programme in Africa with billions of dollars earmarked annually to cause positive changes in the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the society,” Farouq said.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Edo, Mr Godwin Obaseki, commended the initiative of President Buhari’s administration, noting that the approach brings the government in direct contact with rural women,
Obaseki, who was represented by the wife of the Deputy Governor, Mrs Maryam Shuaibu expressed gratitude to the Federal government for the grant given to the rural women in the State.
Obaseki plauded Buhari’s administration for its commitment to grass root empowerment through such initiative.
He urged government at all levels to leverage on areas of comparative advantages in channeling intervention.
Mrs. Dorcas Idehen, the Permanent Secretary of the state’s Ministry of Social Development and Gender Issues, commended Federal Government for its initiative towards lifting the socio-economic status of rural women.