The federal government on Wednesday began the disbursement of a one-off cash grant of N20,000 to 3,816 beneficiaries across the 33 local government areas in Oyo State.
The disbursement being done under the Grant for Vulnerable Groups (GVG) programme of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development is in consonance with the agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
Flagging off the disbursement to Oyo State citizens, on Thursday, at an event held at the State Secretariat, Ibadan, the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq said 70 per cent of the beneficiaries are women, 30 per cent are youths while 15 per cent are people living with disabilities and the elderly.
The minister, represented by the director of Human Resources in the ministry, Mr Tokunbo Rufai, added that the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in rural and peri-urban areas across the nation were selected as beneficiaries of the one-off cash grant.
The programme also featured the roll-out of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0), with 11,978 selected persons across the 33 local government areas of the state, as beneficiaries.
GEEP prioritises giving loans to the most vulnerable, widows, youth, disabled, displaced and low-income Nigerians who are involved in some sort of commercial activity/capacity but had never had the opportunity to access loans.
Categories of those selected under the GEEP schemes are the TraderMoni loan of N50,000 for under-privileged and marginalized youths between the ages of 18-40years; MarketMoni for underprivileged and marginalized women, especially female-headed households and then FarmerMoni to provide agricultural inputs worth a maximum of N300,000 to rural farmers.
In her remarks, executive assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Intervention, Mrs Aderonke Adedayo reeled out programmes of the state government focused on the improvement of welfare and empowerment of citizens.
Speaking at the event, the head of programmes, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Oyo State, Dr Olukemi Afolayan admonished the beneficiaries not to toy with the loan but engage in ventures that will enhance their livelihood and take them out of poverty.
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