The federal government has issued more than N1.5 billion to 20,344 poor households in Bauchi State under its Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme. This was disclosed by its coordinator in the state, Jibrin Yusuf. Mr Yusuf told officials of the state council of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) who visited his office on Monday in Bauchi that the money had been disbursed from 2016 to date. The money was disbursed to very poor households to ease their hardships and encourage them to send their children to school. According to Mr. Yusuf, an additional 2, 969 households would soon be inducted into the scheme to raise the total beneficiaries to 23, 313 across the state.
Explaining that more than 80 percent of the beneficiaries were women care-givers in their various households, Mr. Yusuf said that, “The CCT programme also trains beneficiaries in techniques, savings groups and skills to improve the beneficiaries’ living conditions.” Earlier, NAWOJ Chairperson, Bulak Afsa said the visit was to collaborate with the CCT office to reach out to more women not only to benefit from the scheme but also offer them skills to live on their own. She expressed the readiness of NAWOJ to sensitise existing registered cooperatives and savings’ groups in the state to access federal government loans and other social intervention programmes.
