Jigawa receives N229m FG unconditional cash transfers to 22,000 beneficiaries

THE Jigawa state government commenced the disbursement of the federal government special intervention funds projects under unconditional cash transfer programme amounting to over N229 million as the first batch for the take-up of the programme in the state.

The state’s coordinator of the programme, Alhaji Bala Usman Chamo while speaking to newsmen in Kiyawa shortly after flagging-up disbursement of the funds to ‎22,964 people so far registered to benefits from the cash assistant.

Alhaji Bala Usman Chamo explained that the Jigawa state is among of the first set for the programme implementation of nationwide and the state is happened to be with largest beneficiaries, “this follows extra commitments made by the state government during enumeration and registering the beneficiaries”.

He added that the unconditional cash transfer programmes are designed by the federal government with aims to reduce extreme poverty among Nigerians and empower less privilege people across the country.

According to him state selected nine local government areas, three from each senatorial districts comprising over 50 political wards to pilots the programme, so also there are 102 beneficiaries in each of the political wards who is so far starting benefiting on the programme.

Chamo maintained that the local government areas include Kiyawa, Jahun and Miga at Jigawa central, Auyo, Guri and Kaugama local governments from North-east zone and Taura, Gwiwa, Roni from Jigawa north-west senatorial zone.

The state coordinator stated further that, “we already commenced the distribution of the money to the beneficiaries last Wednesday in Kiyawa local government, the distribution would continue nonstop until we finished”.

He said “as I said this is the first batch, process on the second batch had gone far where 15 local government would enroll targeting over 60,000 beneficiaries between December and January and the third and last batch would follow immediately”.

Alhaji Bala Usman added that “there would be an additional N5,000 to the beneficiaries after completing registering of all of them. But the next one parts of the condition includes one must be beneficiary of first one, that is poor and vulnerable, others conditions are attending polio all Immunization exercises, antenatal attendance and environmental sanitation”.

The coordinator also said, the disbursement exercise was monitored by the State Conditional Tax Unit (SCTU).