By Meletus EZE
Head of Unit, Niger Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, under the Social Investment Programme (SIP), Mrs Hadiza Shiru, said the programme is to equip indigent people with life skills to reduce poverty.
Shiru said this during the enrolment of selected indigent people in Suleja, Niger on Tuesday.
According to her, the cash transfer programme is a part of the social investment programme (SIP) of the Federal Government aimed at empowering some poor households in the society.
The cash transfer programme is introduced by the government to identify poor households across the country and give such families N10, 000 each in every two months for 36 months.
TBI Africa reports that such families are expected to save about 40 per cent of the money for future use and spend the remaining 60 per cent.
“Apart from giving them money to sustain their families, they are also being trained on different skills that will help them cater for their families at the end of the 36 months.
“We have other training on nutrition and livelihood skills so that these people would not go back to their initial poverty level. The programme is structured in such a way that the beneficiaries are supposed to go outside and do something within their capacity.
According to Shiru, this is why the people are also being encouraged to form cooperative societies so that they will have access to loans to expand their businesses.
The official said the programme might look insignificant to wealthy people but really it would go a long way to reduce poverty in the society.
She, however, said the absence of community banks in most local government areas was a challenge to the programme and made payment difficult.
She said the government was considering plans to review the payment pattern so that families could access their money promptly.
Shiru said the programme had enrolled more than 10,000 households and it was expected to enroll about 13,000 households in the ongoing registration.
She said the new enrolment would take place in Bagama `A’ Ward and Gwazunu Community in Iku East Ward, all in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger.
Also, Mrs Onyinye Ough, a member of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), said SIP was laudable.
“PERL as an organisation stands to promote its social accountability, transparency and ensure that citizens know what is happening.
“We call on other civil society groups and the media to collaborate with the cash transfer office to ensure prompt delivery of the cash transfer to the poor in a fair and transparent manner.
The CCT programme was first implemented as a pilot scheme in 37 primary health care facilities (PHCs) in nine states.
The programme enables every woman attending antenatal care, skilled delivery, and postnatal care to access up to N5,000 facility.
