Humanitarian minister inaugurates grant scheme in Bauchi, disburses N20,000 to over 5,000 beneficiaries
By Charly Agwam – Bauchi
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development of Nigeria has rolled out a new grant scheme, Grant for Vulnerable Groups programme (GVG) to assist the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in rural and peri-urban areas in Bauchi State
According to the Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq who spoke during the flag-off ceremony in Bauchi on Monday, beneficiaries of the grant scheme were drawn from Bauchi, Azare and in Darazo.
She said that the GVG is a Buhari Manifesto fulfilment project, which was introduced in 2020, first as a Grant to Rural Women only, but now to all vulnerable groups, to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s administration on the poor.
Today, we are here to flag-off the Grant for Vulnerable Groups programme (GVG) in Bauchi State and in three locations (i.e in Bauchi, in Azare and in Darazo).
“The GVG is a Buhari Manifesto fulfilment project, which was introduced in 2020, first as a Grant to Rural Women only, but now to all vulnerable groups, to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Buhari’s Administration on the poor, which is consistent with his compassionate and deliberate National agenda of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
“The GVG is designed to provide a one-off cash grant of N20,000.00, to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in rural and peri-urban areas across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, mainly to empower this special group to improve their productivity and the performance of their commercial activities, and ultimately ease them out of poverty.
“Let me add here that our target in Bauchi State is to disburse the grant to 5,679 beneficiaries across the 20 Local Government Areas in the State. This is one of the highest slots in the country, which is necessary to address the impact of insurgency, banditry and large volume of IDPs in the State,” she said.
The Humanitarian Minister noted further that President Muhammadu Buhari, through deliberate social inclusion agenda has directed that 70% of these beneficiaries must be women, while the remaining 30% should go to youths.
She stressed that, at least 15% of the total number of beneficiaries must specifically be on citizens with special needs, including Persons With Disability (PWDs) and Senior Citizens in the State.
Farouq stated that the target of the one-off Cash Grant project is to increase income and productive assets of the target beneficiaries, while also stressing that the beneficiaries should use the Presidential gesture to improve their productivity, create wealth, generate employment and improve their living standard.
Other empowerment programmes in the list from Humanitarian Minister also include; Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0), Flaging off of the National Sensitization Exercise for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) and flag-off payment of a one-off N50,000 grant to selected IDPs under the Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operations (YESSO) amongst others.
Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs
Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs