4,528 Lagosians to benefit from FG’s grant to vulnerable residents

…disbursement of cash grants commences

Lagos State government, in collaboration with the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has commenced the disbursement of cash grants to poor and vulnerable residents of the state.

Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, in her address at the event held on Tuesday at the Police College, GRA, Ikeja, noted that the cash grant would reduce the suffering of vulnerable groups across the state.

Arobieke disclosed that the process of identifying the vulnerable members of the public was transparently carried out with the assistance of some independent monitors for the implementation of the social intervention programmes.

She said: “The flag-off of the distribution of the Federal Government cash grant to the vulnerable groups today involves the roll out of the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0) to beneficiaries of Marketmoni and Tradermoni; launch of National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, handover of Height and Weight Scales and the inspection of Farm to Kitchen Centre projects.”

The commissioner averred that the programmes were approved in Lagos by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to fast-track the conditional cash transfer to beneficiary households to reduce the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable people in Lagos.

On her part, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, who was represented by the Director of Humanitarian Affairs, Alhaji Ali Grema, said: “The Grant for Vulnerable Groups is designed to provide a one-off cash grant of N20,000 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.”

According to the minister, the initiative is part of President Buhari’s administration’s social inclusion agenda and his national agenda of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

“Our target in Lagos State is to disburse the grant to 4,528 beneficiaries across the 20 Local Government Areas in the State”.

“It is worth noting that 70% of these beneficiaries must be women, while the remaining 30% is for youths. Mr. President has further directed that at least 15% of the total number of beneficiaries must be allocated to citizens with special needs, including Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) and Senior Citizens in the State,” the minister added.