We Are Proud To Say That 1.4m Nigerians Benefitted From Cash Transfer Programme – FG

From Okwe Obi, Abuja

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs. Sadiya Umar Farouq, has disclosed that as at December 2020, no fewer than 1,414,983 Nigerians benefitted from the Household Uplifting Programme-Conditional Cash Transfer (HUP-CCT) programme under the National Cash Transfer Programme.

The minister made the disclosure in a statement while reacting to a media report insinuating that the poverty alleviation programme, which involves the release of a monthly stipend of N5,000 to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerian households in rural communities, has largely been a gargantuan failure.

According to her, the programme, currently operating in 33 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had captured 7,068,629 individual household member beneficiaries in 487 Local Government Areas, 4,716 wards and 37,628 communities.

She noted that the database of Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) was generated at the state level and domiciled at state ministries of planning.

The minister said the Conditional Cash Transfer package, launched in 2016, targets to cover all states of the federation by March.

Meanwhile, Farouq, has said that a total of 546,449 youths have also benefited from the N-Power initiative.

She disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the official flagging off of the N-Creative programme for the Northern zone with 1, 500 participants.

Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Bashir Alkali, she said: “A total of 544,949 N-Power beneficiaries both graduates and non- graduates have benefitted from the various components of the programme. With the addition of the N-Creative, the number of N-Power beneficiaries have increased to 546,449.”

“N-Creative is focused on equipping youths with relevant skills and certification to become competent workers, innovators and entrepreneurs prepared for both the domestic and global digital and creative industries. The training will enable beneficiaries learn the necessary animation skills sought in storytelling, illustration/ graphic design, post production, script writing and voice acting. At conclusion, the training will up-skill 3,000 young Nigerians as developers of world – class animated content for local and global consumption.”

Programme Coordinator, Nsikak Okon, said the N-Creative participants would be trained by veterans in the movie industry such as Segu Arinze and others.