The Nation Newspaper

Tag: poor Nigerians

  • 450,000 poor Nigerians benefit from conditional cash transfer in three years, says official

    COORDINATOR of the National Conditional Cash Transfer programme of the Federal Government, Dr Temitope Sinkaye, says at least 450,000 Nigerians have benefitted from the cash transfer for N5000 monthly since 2016 till date. Sinkaye, who disclosed this in Calabar during the Conditional Cash Transfer Mid-Year review workshop held with officials from 15 participating states in the country, said her office undertook a `proxy-means testing’ method to determine those who are actually poor and needed the cash most.

    She said that the office was currently doing an electronic enrolment for 150,000 additional beneficiaries across the country, adding that the target was to capture one million households by the end of 2019. According to her, the 450,000 beneficiaries were those who could not meet their basic nutritional requirements and do not have other means of livelihood to sustain them. “When we get this list of beneficiaries, we ‘ll subject it to a `proxy-means testing’ and then come up with those who are absolutely poor.

    We believe that it is the absolute poor people that N5,000 means a lot to. “Such beneficiaries have been identified by members of their communities to be the poorest and most vulnerable who needed the cash transfer most. “Giving them only this cash does not move them out of poverty. We would build their capacity by empowering them with informed decision, provision of healthcare, education and nutrition.

    “The mid-year review is to access the level of work we have done for the year and to look at the challenges encountered and then come out with recommendations and how to address those challenges,” she said.

  • Fed Govt disburses N10b to 300, 000 poor Nigerians in two years

    THE Federal Government has since 2016 disbursed N10 billion to no fewer than 300,000 beneficiaries through its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.

    CCT National Programme Coordinator Dr. Temitope Sinkaye stated this yesterday on the sidelines of the National Cash Transfer Programme Mid-year Review in Ilorin, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    She said the programme started in 2016 with eight pilot states that met the condition set by the Federal Government.

    The condition, Sinkaye explained, was just for states to provide offices, personnel and equipment for the take-off of the programme.

    “All states are eligible to participate in the programme, but upon fulfilling some conditions.

    “So currently, we have only 20 states that have fulfilled the conditions.

    “As at 2016 when we started the programme, only eight states met the condition and as at today, we have 20 states and we are still counting.

    “The condition is that states will provide the programme with office, staff and equipment while the Federal Government takes it up from there.

    “Once the state is done with that, the Federal Government takes up from there and train the personnel on what the programme is all about,” she said.

    On the modality for selection of beneficiaries, the national coordinator said that they were selected through a process known as “community-based targeting”.

    “There is a different government agency that is charged with the responsibility of identifying the beneficiaries and the agency is known as the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office at the national office,” Sinkaye said.

    She noted that the community-based targeting team of the office at the local government level move from one community to another to identify the poorest set of Nigerians through the help of members of those communities.

  • Poor Nigerians get free treatments

    The Federal Government has conducted a total number of 4,349 free surgeries and 17, 793 health screenings to poor Nigerians across the country, Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole has said.

    Speaking in Abuja, he said the Ministry had set a target of 10,150 free surgeries and screenings to assist the poor.

    Also, the ministry provided over 200,000 nutrition for Nigerians suffering from malnutrition in the northeast. The intervention has since become a project, the Health Sector Nutrition and Emergency Response, delivering comprehensive health interventions and emergency services in the troubled region.

    The Minister said:“The government must pay for those who cannot afford healthcare.”

    Adewole said the programme was a promise by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, as part of its pro-poor universal health coverage agenda.

    The Minister said the programme tagged, “Better Health for All” was ongoing and would be scaled up in the year.

    ‘’You would recall that in July 2016, the Federal Ministry of Health launched the Rapid Result Initiative (RRI) Programme to carry out surgeries and screenings to indigent Nigerians across the Country.

    “The programme was borne out of plan to respond to the critical needs of the people and deliver on the mandate of promoting health with focus on Access, Affordability and Demand,” he said.

    Adewole said the Programme encapsulates a set of initiatives developed as a strategy to actualise the vision of the administration to produce quick and visible impacts that will affect the lives of every Nigerian, especially the most vulnerable and the poor in the society.

    The six components of the programme are surgical interventions, Screening of Nigerians for major Diseases, Revitalisation of PHCs, Mutual Health Assurance, Treatment of 200,000 Severely Acutely Malnourished children and operationalising the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

    The health screenings cover 22,000 cancer: 10,000 cervical, 10,000 breast  and  2,000 prostate, 42,000 Diabetes Mellitus; 42,000 Hepatitis B Virus as well as  60,000 Mass De-worming.

  • APC hails Fed Govt over N5000 payment to poor Nigerians

    APC hails Fed Govt over N5000 payment to poor Nigerians

    •Party: Buhari committed to restoring hope to citizenry

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday that the payment of N5000 to vulnerable Nigerians was historic and unprecedented.It assured the citizenry of the Federal Government’s commitment to make significant progress in restoring hope to the economy and other critical areas.In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi in Abuja, the APC said while 2016 was tough for Nigerians as a result of the economic recession, it appealed to them have confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s ability to design programmes and policies that would provide succor to the masses.
    The statement reads: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) commends the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for fulfilling the promise the party made to Nigerians during the 2015 general election campaigns that safety nets will be provided to vulnerable Nigerians.”The party notes that with the commencement of payment of N5000 to one million poor Nigerians through the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of the government, the Buhari administration has demonstrated itscommitment to the party’s change manifestoes, which is couched on true transformation.”
    We recall that as part of its Social Investment Programme (SIP), the Government has begun implementing the party’s three other major campaign promises designed to provide jobs and lift the most vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty.
    ”These include: the N-Power Volunteer Corps, which will provide jobs to 500,000 young Nigerian graduates; the National Homegrown Feeding Programme, which has commenced in selected states, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which provides soft loans ranging from N10,000 to 100,000 to artisans, traders, market women, among others.”
    The APC views these achievements as historic and unprecedented in the history of Nigeria even as it assures Nigerians that the government is committed and working hard to make significant progress on the economy, and other sectoral areas.”
    The party acknowledges that the past year was a tough one for Nigerians occasioned by the economic recession but have confidence in the ability of President Buhari to design programmes and policies that will provide succour to the masses.”We urge Nigerians to continue to support and pray for the Buhari-led administration so that our dream of a more prosperous, secure and stable nation will be achieved.”

  • N5,000 stipend for poor Nigerians still stands, says Presidency

    N5,000 stipend for poor Nigerians still stands, says Presidency

    The Presidency last  night insisted that the N5,000 stipend for poor stands.

    President Muhammadu Buhari was reported as saying that the promise —to hand the most vulnerable N5,000 cash— would not be kept while addressing the Nigerian community in Saudi Arabia last week.

    But the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, told State House correspondents that this year’s budget, which has been submitted to the National Assembly, allocated of half a trillion naira for such social investments.

    He also pointed out that President Muhammadu Buhari never promised to pay unemployed graduates N5,000.

    He said: “The budget for 2016, which has been submitted to the National Assembly, has made an allocation of half a trillion naira, the first time in the history of this country’s budget where you have that huge chunk of money allocated for social investment.

    “In that N500 billion, which is half a trillion naira, close to about 20 per cent of the entire budget, there are six social safety net programmes. And one of them is the conditional cash transfer where government is going to pay N5,000 monthly to the vulnerable and extremely poor Nigerians. That promise stands.

    “The President never promised to pay unemployed graduates N5,000; the President never made that promise and the government never made that claim that it will pay N5,000 to unemployed graduates.

    “The programme for unemployed graduates is the direct creation of half a million teaching jobs so that they will be trained; 50,0000 unemployed graduates will be trained to teach and they will be deployed to teach, while they are looking for their career paths or jobs. That still stands.

    “In addition to that, there is also a scheme to train 370, 000 non-graduate youths for skill acquisition and vocational training. During the time of that training, they will also be paid. So the President did not say that he would be giving unemployed graduates N5,000.”

    Akande added:: “The N5,000 monthly, which is already in the budget, is for the vulnerable Nigerians and the extremely poor, and this year, by the grace of God, once the budget is okay , one million extremely poor Nigerians will receive N5,000 monthly.”