The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has flagged off cash grants to 11,227 beneficiaries selected from across the 23 local government areas of Benue State.
Sadiya Umar Farouq, the humanitarian affairs minister, said during the flag-off exercise at the premises of National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in Makurdi, that the cash grant for vulnerable groups was designed to give a lifting hand to many of the poorest and vulnerable citizens in the country.
The minister who was represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Dr. Nasiru Mahmoud, said the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) 2.0 consists of three signature schemes – Tradermoni, Marketmoni of N50,000 to each beneficiary and Farmermoni to provide agricultural inputs worth up to a maximum of N300,000 to rural farmers.
She said in the first phase of GEEP, there were 1,142,783 registered and Benue had 36,769 of them from which 11,227 beneficiaries were selected in Benue.
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From this figure, 4,760 Tradermoni and Marketmoni beneficiaries have been enumerated; 2,409 of them got N50,000 loan each.
“Enumeration is still ongoing, and the remaining beneficiaries will be credited as soon as the enumeration process is concluded. I have gracefully come to roll-out the programme in Benue State. Hence, successful beneficiaries of the GEEP will start receiving credit alerts from Access Bank today,” the minister said.
Responding, Governor Samuel Ortom, thanked the federal government for the gesture, stressing that the grant came timely at a period when most families in the state had been affected by the recent flood.
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