Gov Sule flags off programme to tackle poverty

The Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, in line with the National Social Safety Net Programme launched by the Federal Government in 2017, has flagged off the training of participants to enrol vulnerable households in the State.

The exercise which aims to establish a Single Social Register for the poor in Nasarawa State, will be used for the facilitation of Conditional Cash Transfer of the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government.

Governor Sule recalled that Nasarawa State domesticated the Social Investment Programme (SIP) with a view to addressing unemployment and improving the living conditions of the poorest citizens as a means of tackling the pervasive poverty prevalence in the State.

“I am happy to note that 6 selected Local Government Areas in the State benefited from this benevolent gesture, geared towards improving the living condition of the poor, as well as accelerating the economic growth and development in the State and the country at large.

“I am also aware that since the inception of the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme, few pilot states had already developed their social registers of the second phase, which will facilitate the implementation of the programme.

“Today, we are gathered here to flag-off the second phase of the Community-Based Targeting Training, as I believe that, if properly harnessed, the exercise will go a long way in underscoring the importance of the Social Intervention Programme in eradicating poverty in line with the policy thrust of the APC Administration,” he said.

Governor Sule, however, charged the participants to live above board in ensuring that they pay particular attention and internalize the lessons of the programme, saying government accords high priority to this segment of the Social Intervention Programme owing to the fact that the Conditional Cash Transfer touches the lives of the very poor in the society.

Also in a separate interview, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Humanitarian Affairs, Imran Usman Jibrin, said that the essence of the programme was to fish out the vulnerable and poorest of the poor in the society.

According to him, one of the platform in achieving the success of the exercise was through the Cash Transfer programme in which already there are about 48,000 people from 6 LGAs that had benefited in the state.

“As we speak ,there is addition of over 50,000 and we are targeting to enrolled 100,000 vulnerable and poor citizens of the state by the end of this year.

“Also we have secured approval for the remaining seven Local government areas, which the governor has magnanimously approved the training of about 158 staff,” Imran stated.