Story from Sa’adatu MAINA, Damaturu
Save the Children International (SCI), in collaboration with the European Union (EU), has provided cash support to 10,000 pregnant and lactating women in Yobe.
The Social Protection Co-ordinator for EU Resilience in Yobe, Mr Lawal Tsafe, disclosed this in Damaturu while on an inspection visit to a payment centre.
He said each pregnant and lactating mother had been receiving N7,500 as cash support since 2019.
“The cash transfer is sponsored by the EU under the supervision and implementation of SCI.
“We are targeting 10,000 pregnant and lactating women with N7,500 monthly cash transfer to support their first 1,000 days.
“That is from pregnancy to the first two years of a child, following it up with social and behavioural change communication.”, Tsafe said.
The coordinator said the two local government areas selected for the programme were Damaturu and Postiskum.
He said 4000 beneficiaries were targeted in Damaturu while the target beneficiaries for Potiskum stood at 6,000 in Potiskum.
The coordinator explained the that criteria for the selection of the beneficiaries was conducted through a community-based approach.
“We formed a traditional ward committee that is vested with the responsibility of identifying and selecting the beneficiaries.
“The basic requirements for the beneficiary is to be pregnant and a resident of the particular community irrespective of religious social or ethnic background.”, he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the beneficiaries to utilize the money judiciously by taking care of their babies from conception to the period of two years.
He equally charged them to save part of the money and engage in small scale businesses to take care of themselves after the expiration of the programme.
One of the beneficiaries, Gambo Goni, said the money had supported her, especially during her pregnancy when she needed lots of proteins as required by a physician.
“Without the support, I might not be able to take care of myself and my baby. I really appreciate SCI.”, she said.
Hadiza Dantsuwa, another beneficiary said she had been collecting N7,500 and hoped to continue to benefit to enable her baby to become fully developed.
Aisha Muhammed, called on the fellow beneficiaries to avoid mismanagement of the money.
“We need to stick to supplementing our diets, to improve our health and that of our babies,” she said.
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Good step