The Federal Government has set aside N146 billion for its social and
welfare programmes. Specifically, the money is for the Conditional Cash
Transfer project.
Other items in the scheme include the Home Grown School
Feeding, N-Power and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme
(GEEP).
The Special Adviser to the President on National Social Investment, Mrs.
Maryam Uwais, made the disclosure during a retreat for officials in her office
and that of the Vice President at Tinapa Business and Resort Centre in Calabar,
Cross River.
She said: “We have about N66 billion for the cash transfer for the first
year because we are hoping to address 30 per cent of the entire population of
this country otherwise we will not have money for anything else. But next year,
we are going to do 50 per cent more that is why we have added six local
governments in Cross River so that we can begin to pay them.
“There is another N80 billion we will be using for that but bear in mind
that this money is not in the office of the Vice President or even in the
Presidency. It is with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. All we do
is to provide the schedule, the BVN and the account numbers.”
On mobilisation and control, Uwais noted: “We are leaving it for each
state and that is why we ask the governors to give us one person we can talk
to. But anybody can register through the Ministry of Women Affairs.”
However, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani, has
urged the contractors handling the East West Road project to return to site,
pledging to make available the needed funds soon.
According to him, the road had become a source of concern to the present
administration, lamenting that the road was already depreciating owing to its
fallow nature despite that it has a 10-year completion period.
During a meeting with contractors yesterday in Abuja, he disclosed that
the ministry had secured a €5 million grant from NEPAD Infrastructure Forum for
the completion of skills acquisition centres in nine states.
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