20, 000 FCT residents benefit from FG’s conditional cash transfer

The FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu, has said that 20, 000 residents of the territory benefited from the conditional cash transfer under the Social Investment Programme of the federal government in 2019.

Aliyu, who made this known during a one -day co-responsibility engagement stakeholders’ forum, said that in addition, the programme has established saving groups for the beneficiaries to engage in various livelihood activities that would lift them out of poverty.

The minister who was represented by her Special Assistant on Technical Matters, Mubdiyu Mustapha, noted that the components of the social investment programme were carefully planned to encapsulate the administration’s cardinal objective of eradicating extreme poverty and by extension, providing security and developing the country’s economy.

She however, observed that despite the milestones recorded, Nigerians are not yet where they need to be in the fight against poverty, stressing that there are a lot of things that can be done differently within the social protection circle.

“Specifically, we need more research, we need more young people venturing into the social protection field and we need to improve our results chain.

We need not reinvent the wheel and we must ensure we learn from past mistakes by documentation and analysis for future references.

“While it is true that we have an approved national social protection policy and we have launched the national social investment programmes, we must therefore, continue to work towards changing the fortunes of our people for the better.

“Our health indices need to change for the better; our level and quality of education must improve and our life expectancy must increase, and our multi-dimensional poverty rating must be reduced.

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“In addition, we must continue to work to check-mate unemployment, bring down the numbers of out- of- school children, provide vocational training opportunities, especially in the grassroots where they are needed and above all, continue to strive to ensure all human lives matter,” the minister declared.

Head, FCT Cash Transfer Unit, Dr. Luka Ayuba, described the introduction of the social investment programme as the best programme of the federal government geared towards tackling extreme poverty in Nigeria.

He stated that the programme has covered three area councils of Abaji, Kuje and Kwali, revealing that the unit will scale-up its activities in the remaining three area councils of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari and Gwagwalada in the next phase.