From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
The federal government has offered empowerment grants to over 3,500 vulnerable women in Osun State.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, who disclosed this during the flag-off of the Grant for Rural Women Programme in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, noted that the gesture was aimed at alleviating poverty among some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in both rural and peri-urban areas in the state.
The Grant for Rural Women Programme was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of the Buhari administration.
Daily Sun gathered that over 3,500 beneficiaries would receive N20,000 each across the 30 local government councils in the state within 10 days that the distribution of the grant is expected to last.
While explaining the rationale behind the move, Farouq said that the one-off grant was consistent with the president’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years time.
‘The grant is expected to increase income and productive assets of target beneficiaries. It is our hope that the beneficiaries of this programme will make good use of the grant to generally contribute towards improving their living standard,’ she stressed.
‘The target beneficiaries and many more Nigerians in the state will be on their way out of poverty to prosperity and we will, as a country, remain on the track of lifting 100 million out of poverty by 2030,’ she added.
Farouq, who disclosed that 5 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries was allocated to Persons with Disability (PWDs) in line with President Buhari’s social inclusion programme, however, urged the state governments to take a cue from the federal government’s initiative as well as other provisions in the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act 2019.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola expressed delight that the spread of the beneficiaries across all the LGAs ‘was in tandem with the strategy of our administration to equitably deliver services and programmes under our Development Agenda across our local government areas.’
He lauded the President for his sustained commitment to combating poverty in the country.
‘It is on record that the Buhari administration has the record of implementing the biggest and the most ambitious social protection programmes in the history of our nation, with not less than 4 million citizens benefiting from different programmes across the country,’ Oyetola said.
‘I must also express my appreciation to the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs under the able leadership of Hajia Sadiya for the passion and commitment to the seamless implementation of these programmes which continue to impact numerous lives across the country,’ the governor added.
‘It deserves to be mentioned that the broad array of social protection programmes being implemented by the current administration are critical to the quest to uplift our people from the throes of lack and deprivation. These programmes speak eloquently of the concerted drive of the administration to ensure that citizens of this country are empowered to live fulfilled life.
‘We must acknowledge that no society is truly secure until there is a proper plan put in place to take care of the most vulnerable. It is on this note, therefore, that we must commend this initiative, especially coming in the wake of the novel Coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted economic activities globally.’
Oyetola, however, called on the beneficiaries to maximise the grant with a view to improving their wellbeing.
