ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Federal Government is set to empower 6,000 poor and vulnerable persons with N5,000 monthly stipend in 12 communities in two local government areas of Bayelsa State under the National Social Safety Nets Project.
The beneficiaries of the programme, according to the State Operation Coordinating Unit, were drawn electronically from 12 communities of Ogbia town, Eboh, Obedunah and Idema in Ogbia LGA.
Others are Yenagoa town, Ovom, Onopa, Igbogene, Yenegue, Akenfa, Agudama-Epie and Akenpai in Yenagoa LGA of the state.
The Coordinator, SOCU, Mr. Felix Asingbi, made this known yesterday during a visit to the Chairman of the Bayelsa Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Samuel Numonengi.
Asingbi said the new programme by the Federal Government was in partnership with the World Bank and is aimed at ameliorating the harsh effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the poor and the vulnerable.
According to him, the programme is one of the government’s key strategies to reduce poverty, re-distribute wealth to the less privileged, poor and vulnerable in the country.
He also said it was an expansion of the existing National Social Safety Nets Project that targets small business owners, street vendors, petty traders, Small and Medium Enterprises and service providers.
He stated: “Others are low-wage employed individuals and families, including daily wage-based labourers, urban poor and destitute (persons with disabilities), and vulnerable families in slum areas, affected by the pandemic.
“The category of beneficiaries who will benefit are typically the urban/semi-urban poor engaged in the informal sectors of the economy, who lost their sources of livelihood due to the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and jobs. The Federal Government plans to extend cash transfers to households in this register for a period of six months.”
He also said the government would use geographical satellite sensing to locate the wards where the urban poor live, as the targeting of the poor would be done via cell phone Short Messaging Service (SMS) technology that allows residents of targeted communities register to be assisted by following simple steps using USSD codes.
Asingbi said the visit to the secretariat of the NUJ was part of the Federal Government sensitization campaigns for the programme.
He dismissed the notion held by some individuals that text messages on the programme is fake and fraudulent, insisting that the text message from *929# is genuine.
It was however gathered that the Urban Poor Rapid Response Register being used by the Federal Government to select beneficiaries of the various poverty alleviation programme has registered 120,000 persons drawn from 400 communities in the state.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Bayelsa Council of the NUJ, Comrade Samuel Numonengi, expressed concern over the number of beneficiaries allocated to the state despite the population of the state.
He pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the various agencies handling the issues of poverty alleviation and empowerment to widen their scope in order to capture more indigent indigenes of the state.