The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq has urged rural women in Gombe state to use the one-off cash grant given to them by the federal government to improve the lives of their families.
Umar Farouq made the call when she flagged off the Rural women’s Cash Grant in Gombe state on Thursday November 12, 2020.
The Minister stated that the grant is expected to increase their access to financial capital required for economic activities since rural women contribute to the national economy through small scale businesses.
“It is our hope that the beneficiaries of this programme will make good use of the opportunity to increase their income, enhance their food security, and generally contribute towards improving their living standard. We believe that with the complementary effort of His Excellency, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya , the Executive Governor of Gombe State, the target beneficiaries will be on their way out of poverty to prosperity”.
In his remarks, the Governor Inuwa Yahaya described the flag-off of the Rural women’s Grant Project in Gombe state as timely.
He said that the grant which means a lot to Gombe state government will assist the rural women to take care of their families and their petty businesses.
“I am grateful to President Muhammadu Buhari for his intervention during the pandemic and for steering this one-off grant for rural women in the country. The federal government’s directive to disburse immediate cash to rural women in Gombe state is highly appreciated and apt.
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“Rural women are the backbone of our economy as eighty percent of women are peasant farmers, toiling day and night to sustain their families. This grant of twenty thousand naira to about 20O women in this state means a lot to our women and the state government and it will help them to cater to their families, farms and their small scale businesses.
“Other Federal government interventions like Trader Moni, Market moni and Farmer Moni are also needed and like Oliver Twist, we will keep asking for more,” Governor Inuwa Yahaya stated.
The Minister later performed the symbolic Cash Transfer of N20,000 to some women in the state.
The Rural Women’s Cash Grant is designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in rural Nigeria. A grant of N20,000.00 will be disbursed to over 150,000 poor rural women across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Grant for Rural Women programme was introduced in 2020 as part of President Mohammadu Buhari’s social inclusion and poverty reduction agenda, including the realization of the national aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
