FG empowerment project targets 10, 134 beneficiaries in Adamawa
Story from Usman IBRAHIM, Yola
No fewer than 10, 134 people will benefit from the Federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) project in Adamawa.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, disclosed this at the official roll-out of the GEEP 2.0 project in Yola.
The Minister, who was represented by Dr Umar Bindir, National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), said the programme is designed by President Muhammadu Buhari for vulnerable and low-income people who are involved in some sort of commercial activity.
She said that the beneficiaries were drawn from 21 Local Government Areas of the state to access the interest-free loan from the federal government through Access Bank.
“The GEEP is captured in three signature schemes: the TraderMoni loan of N50,000 is targeted towards uplifting underprivileged and marginalised youth.
“MarketMoni loan scheme is an empowerment programme for market women and the FarmerMoni loan scheme is designed to provide agricultural inputs N50,000 to N300,000 to rural farmers”, she explained.
According to her the second phase of registration will be announced soon and more people will be captured for the purpose of uplifting them out of abject poverty and reducing rates of unemployment in the society.
Mrs Mary Yuwadi, Focal Person N-SIP in Adamawa State, said that the federal government had impacted the state positively to reduce poverty and create employment opportunities.
She said in the state a total of 28,697 people have befitted from 2016 under the N-power programme; 2,259 were gainfully employed to cook for about 162,872 pupils.
Yuwadi added that under conditional cash transfer about 28,486 are presently benefiting from N5,000 monthly stipends.
In his remarks, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa thanked and appreciated the efforts of the federal government towards poverty alleviation and wealth creation.
Fintiri who was represented by Alhaji Ibrahim Buba said the programme is in line with his administration’s commitment to the state that rightfully deserves attention.
He assured that his administration would do everything possible to ensure the sustainability of the programme and strong collaboration with all stakeholders in reducing poverty in the state.
Some of the beneficiaries thanked and appreciated the gesture and assured to repay back the loan as directed.
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