The Millennium Development Goals Project Support Unit in Plateau State says it has empowered 2,250 rural poor with N3.75 billion under its Conditional Cash Transfer.
The MDGs Project Coordinator in Plateau State, Peter Gai, disclosed this in Tunkus, Mikang Local Government Area at the training of beneficiaries to mark the winding up process of the scheme.
Gai said the Federal Government contributed N187.5 million and the Plateau State Government provided a matching grant of N187.5 million for the CCT, which started in 2013.
The project coordinator said that the 2,250 beneficiaries were drawn from five local governments of Mikang, Kanke, B/Ladi, Riyom and Jos East, considered to be the most backward in Plateau State.
“In each of these local governments, five communities are selected and in each of the communities 90 households are selected,” he said.
He stressed that the programme was designed to address the needs of the poorest of the poor, with a view to giving them access to funds to improve their lives.
Gai stated that the scheme was precisely tailored towards alleviating poverty and accelerating progress towards the attainment of MDGs.
He said: “The overall aim of the programme is to encourage the less privileged to send their children to school and inculcate in them the culture of antenatal care to reduce health problems related to pregnancy.
“The qualified core poor households were being paid N5,000 monthly for a period of one year and they would be given a lump sum of N100,000.”
Gai said that the N100,000 was to help them to set up a business to enable them to continue keep their children in school.
The Chairman of Mikang Local Government Area, Daniel Kungmi, said that the CCT scheme had culminated in increase enrolment into primary schools in the area.
Kungmi said: “This is clear demonstration that there is a direct nexus between enrolment in our schools and the degree of empowerment of our rural poor.
“I want to assure you that the local government has put in place mechanisms to deepen the empowerment of our people and strengthen them for greater empowerment programmes.
“Let me stress that this council has warehoused the sum N100 million to provide loans at zero interest rate for various trading related activities.”