By Francis Ogwo
The Federal Government has launched the Special Cash Grant for Rural Women Programme in Ondo State, which makes provision for each woman to receive N20,000 each with about 150,000 women nationwide benefiting.
The information was made public by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, along with the Executive Governor of Ondo State, Arakunmi Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, at the Ondo State Government House on Thursday in Akure.
According to the Minister, this was part of the objective of the present administration towards getting 100 million people out of poverty.
“The Special Cash Grant for Rural Women Programme being flagged off today was introduced this year 2020 by the Ministry as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s social inclusion and poverty reduction agenda, including the realisation of the national aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. It is designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and vulnerable women in Nigeria,” Farouq said.
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, noted that the grants would help facilitate female economic empowerment and tackle poverty worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is a welcome idea, especially as it provides an enabling platform for women empowerment, tackling poverty and resuscitating the economy after a long period of privation engendered by COVID-19 pandemic which continues to ravage the world.
“Ondo State government is highly delighted for the initiative of empowering rural women as a social inclusion and poverty alleviation agenda. This initiative is in consonance with the Ondo State government’s aspiration to lift a sizeable proportion of women out of poverty,” he said.
Akeredolu further disclosed that women in Ondo had benefitted from welfare schemes of the government, including, Home Grown School Feeding Programme, which engaged 1490 women out of 1506 as Cooks in Ondo public primary schools; the Public Workfare empowered 2,930 women, who received a stipend of N7,500 monthly; Special Grant Transfers; and State Conditional Transfer, amongst others.
Recall that in October the Federal Government of Nigeria had inaugurated the Special Grant Project for Rural Women, which would see that over 700,000 women received grants of N20,000 each to make them financially empowered members of the society. The scheme is also expected to commence in Plateau State this month.
