FG disburses N5bn to Nigerian women

President Goodluck Jonathan has released N5bn to 56,500 vulnerable women in the country under the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme to address issues relating to poverty.

The scheme is targeted at poverty reduction and the fight against deprivation and hunger among citizens.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals, Dr. Precious Gbeneol, on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, said the beneficiaries were drawn from 24 states of the federation with the aim of offering them support.

Gbeneol said during the national inauguration of the CCT scheme that  the beneficiaries would be entitled to a monthly stipend of N5,000 for a period of one year, after which they would be given a grant of N100,000 each.

She said, 'The sum of N100,000 to each beneficiary is to invest in agriculture and to finance the education of their children or to look after their health needs.'

The MDG official said the sum of N370m would be disbursed to 2,250 women from five local government areas of Ekiti State.

She said, 'It is necessary to take the biometric of the beneficiaries. This would dismantle the barriers of delay or malpractices in the disbursement of funds.

'This programme is no longer coming from Abuja because of delay and sharp practices. Now, every state will compile the list of the beneficiaries because all the states knew where the poor people live. The target of the Federal Government is that about 224,000 school children will be rescued from dropping out of schools because the fund is meant to tackle maternal and child mortality.

'Poverty in Nigeria is multi-dimensional and it has to be tackled from all fronts. That is why the Federal Government is engaging in inter-governmental collaboration.'