- The Presidency affirmed that the estimated number of poor people in the country is 80 million
- The adviser to the president on National Social Investment Programme Maryam Uwais confirmed the statistics
- Uwais said 297,973 poor households in 20 states are now been paid stipends under the NCTP
The adviser to the president on National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) Maryam Uwais declared that the estimated number of poor people in the country is 80 million with nearly 500,000 of the extremely poor among them now captured in the National Social Register.
Uwais who spoke on the achievements of her office, said the estimate is from World Poverty Clock.
Nigerian Tribune reports she said 297,973 poor households in 20 states are now been paid stipends under the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (NCTP).
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According to her, ''It is important for us to get the targeting right so only the poorest of the poor will get paid. We have, according to statistics, up to 80 million people that are poor. And so, we had to device a strategy to ensure that we get the poorest and also insulate the process of getting to that poorest from any outside influence, whatever the influence maybe.
''So what we do fight is sign an MOU with the states. We have roles and responsibility on each side though we know is not enforceable but we want both sides to know what their responsibilities are.
''We select 30 percent because we had cash constraints. We couldn’t cover 80 million people that were poor. We now said we will start with 30 percent from each state. That comes to 30 percent of the poorest of the poor from each senatorial district.
''Working with NBS, we looked at the local governments that are the poorest in the senatorial districts for a balance and we shared the names of the local government with the states. They signed off.
''So far, we have 455,857 poor and vulnerable households uploaded onto the National Social Register, from which 297,973 households have been mined and are being paid stipends in 20 states.
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''These states are Jigawa Bauchi, Kogi, Osun, Cross River, Anambra, Katsina, Kano, Taraba, Gombe, Adamawa, Niger, Nassarawa, Benue, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Borno (IDP), Kaduna and Plateau.
''We have trained 2,495 community facilitator whose responsibility it is to engage the caregivers in the households being paid, facilitate the forming of cooperatives, basic financial training, skills and support.
''We also have collated data on the and demographics of each community we engage coordinates relating to education, health, access, payment and connectivity.''
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that President Buhari said his administration implemented several programmes and initiatives to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.
He made the disclosure on Saturday, February 24, at the 22nd convocation ceremony of the University of Abuja. Buhari who was represented by the deputy executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Chinedu Mafiano, also urged youths to key into any of the programmes for national growth and development.
List President Buhari's achievements in two years on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng