The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP2.0) of the Federal Government has started disbursing soft loans to 3,166 low-income and disadvantaged groups that are involved in some commercial operations in the state of Niger.
This was said by Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, on Tuesday in Minna at the launch of the National Social Investment Programs (N-SIP).
The Federal Government’s grant to vulnerable groups (GEEP2.0) roll-out, digitalized payment for conditional cash transfer, height and weight measurement kits, the introduction of a nationwide awareness campaign for homegrown school meals, and the inspection of a farm-to-kitchen facility were among the programs that were officially launched.
In the country’s 774 local governments, 1,142,783 prospective beneficiaries were registered in the first phase of GEEP, according to the ministry.
She claimed that 3,166 enumerated beneficiaries and 9,637 verified beneficiaries out of a total of 41,513 registered beneficiaries in the state of Niger were chosen to receive aid.
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She continued by saying that GEEP was included in three well-known programs, including the N50,000 TraderMoni and MarketMoni loans and the N300,000 Farmer Moni loan, both of which were created to help marginalized women and young people in society as well as rural farmers by providing them with agricultural inputs.
The minister also launched the Grant for Vulnerable Group program (GVG), which would give N20,000 in one-time grants to 5,428 of the state’s poorest and most vulnerable residents living in both rural and urban regions across its 25 local government areas.
She added that the initiative was intended to help 100 million Nigerians escape poverty. She went on to explain that GVG was designed to give beneficiaries the tools they needed to increase their productivity and their commercial operations.
She further mentioned that in order to speed up payments, maintain transparency and accountability, and facilitate the creation of accurate payment data and records, the Federal government had digitalized the payment of the N5,000 conditional cash transfer.
According to Faruq, the domestic school feeding program currently provides meals to 9.9 million children nationally. He also stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the program’s expansion to include a further five million children.
Earlier, in her welcome speech, Barr. Amina Gu’ar, the Niger State’s focal person for the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), praised President Buhari for launching initiatives that improved the lives of the underprivileged and vulnerable members of society.
She also praised the Minister for working relentlessly to advance the programs and the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, for being passionate about their execution.
