Sola Ojo
Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW) with the support of Christian Aid, is giving N88,000 cash and none food items to vulnerable households in selected hard-to-reach communities in Kaduna State to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 strict containment measures put in place by the State Government.
LAWN is currently implementing a project called Nigeria Afghanistan Localised Preparedness Emergency Response (C19 NALPER) to check the impacts of COVID-19 on IDPs, returnees and vulnerable populations in hard to reach areas of Nigeria and Afghanistan. The benefiting homes in Kaduna are getting N22,000 per month between July and October this year totaling N88,000 per home.
Already, the beneficiaries were happy with the development especially, as most of them were excluded from both the federal and state governments palliative care.
Expressing his happiness at one of the venues for the distribution of the palliative care, Idon Hanya Primary school, Kajuru local government area of Kaduna State, Village Head of Idon, Dambawa Idon, said, his people were likely to invest the money in agriculture.
“The money was coming in good time because this is raining season and planting is at its peak. Some of us are using the money to buy farm input like fertilizer, improved seedlings and chemicals.
“We want to appreciate the people doing this for us at this critical time in the history of our state”, he said.
As far as 60-year-old Ramatu Shuaibu was concerned, she would stop going out to hustle for survival on a daily basis and use the money to start grinding business where she lives.
She said, “I confirmed the money. It is N22,000 which they told us will continue to October. I will buy a grinding machine with the money so I will not have to go out to struggle before getting what I will eat”.
A physically challenged Iliya Tambaya who is also benefitting from the gesture said, “I am shoemaker who needs some materials to enable me to do my business better. With this money, I will invest it in the business.”
Speaking to Daily Sun in Idon, Kajuru, Communication Officer, Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW), Femi Johnson, said, one of the key objectives of the intervention was to improve the capacity of community and local health systems to effectively identify and refer COVID-19 related cases in line with government protocols and sustain access to essential health services to vulnerable groups.
According to him, “a baseline assessment was conducted in 4 LGAs (Kachia, Kajuru, Kaura and Makarfi) of Kaduna State to identify and register most vulnerable households and gather data on issues related to COVID19, food security, access to water and sanitation hygiene, health care facility assessments and markets across the 16 communities in the 4 focal LGAs in the Month of May, which will be used as reference points for further engagements.
“Most vulnerable Households who will benefit from Cash and NFIs were identified during the wealth ranking. Evaluation of water sources was carried out. Most of the community’s boreholes need rehabilitation and, in some communities, the project team recommended drilling of new boreholes as they do not have safe water.
“Cash distribution of N22,000 was given to 581 vulnerable households in their respective local council. In Kajuru, we have Idon, Rimau, Kutura and Kallah communities. In Makarfi, we have Gazara, Dandamisa, Tudun Wada and Gubuchi communities.
“In Kaura, we have Bondong, Zankan, Kukum Daji and Manchok communities and Kachia, we have Awon, Kwaturu, Gadanaji and Ankwa communities. The cash/food basket we are giving is above N12.7m in the month of June and July 2020.
“When it comes to none food items, we are distributing one pack of tissue paper, 12 bars of bathing soap, one sanitizer (300ml), one face mask, one toothpaste/slippers/