FCTA disburses grants to 517 vulnerable in Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Thursday disbursed the second batch of FCT Fadama Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus grants to 517 vulnerable people in the territory.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, performed the symbolic disbursement held in Gwagwalada Area Council, FCT.
Aliyu emphasised that the event was another significant indicator of the unflinching determination of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
Aliyu said that the programme also signified the Federal Government’s commitment towards improving livelihoods, particularly for the poor and vulnerable households in the country.
She pledged that the FCT Administration would continue to commit ample human and financial resources towards reduction of poverty and improvement of livelihoods for the poor and vulnerable agricultural households in the FCT.
‘’The specific objective of the FCT FADAMA CARES programme is to increase food security and safe functioning of food supply chain in the FCT.
“The programme is deliberately designed to support the recovery of livelihood activities of the poor and vulnerable persons engaged in agricultural value chains with special consideration to women and unemployed youth.
“Its implementation will be anchored on the World Bank community driven development approach for deployment of programme investments at the community level,” she stressed
She disclosed the FCT Administration had allocated 4.5 million dollars to the FCT FADAMA CARES programme to implement three Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) the allocation of 15 million dollars made available to the FCTA by the World Bank for implementation of the programme.
Aliyu, therefore, called on all the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the grants by supporting their farming activities which would facilitate their recovery from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
” Thus improving livelihoods and contribute to the attainment of increased food security and safe functioning of food supply chain in the FCT.”
Earlier, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr Adesola Olusade noted that the Federal Government and the FCT Administration had invested time and resources in the FADAMA CARES programme and it had started yielding tangible results.
He said the positive results could be attested to by the excellent result achieved by the FCT during the programme eligibility assessment exercise conducted by the World Bank.
He said the FCT scored 88 per cent placing it within the rank of the very best performing states in the country.
Olusade called on the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat and other stakeholders to re-double their efforts towards ensuring the successful implementation of the programme in the FCT.
According to him, this will enable the administration to reinvigorate households and small businesses in FCT ravaged by the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Also, the Secretary Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, said the event was a significant milestone in the efforts of the FCT Administration towards supporting the attainment of food and nutritional security in the territory.
“This official disbursement of grants to second batch of beneficiaries under FCT FADAMA CARES programme further affirms the unflinching commitment of the FCT Administration towards poverty reduction.
” And improvement of livelihoods for poor and vulnerable agricultural households in the territory.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the items distributed include fertilisers, seeds and agrochemicals, sprayers and personal protective equipment for crop farmers, day old chicks and feeds for poultry farmers.
Also, distributed are juveniles and feeds for fish farmers, goats for livestock farmers, grinding machines for women processors and motorised produce threshers for groups of unemployed youths. (NAN)
