The Minister, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, who inaugurated the disbursement on Tuesday in Lokoja, said other beneficiaries under the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) would also get their various package.

She said the programmes include: Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP 2.0), Digitised Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), NPower and Home Grown School Feeding Program (HGSFP).

She said the NSIP remained a project that is consistent with the deliberate National agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.

She said the GVG was designed to provide a one-off cash grant of N20,000 to some of the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in the rural and peri-urban areas to ease them out of poverty.

The Minister, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties in the Ministry, Mrs Nadia Soso-Muhammed, said their target was to disburse the grant to 3,415 beneficiaries across the 21 local government areas of Kogi.

She noted that President Buhari through his deliberate social inclusion agenda, had directed that 70 per cent of the beneficiaries should be women, and 30 per cent youths.

She added that 15 per cent of the total beneficiaries would be allocated to the people with special needs and the senior citizens.

She explained that the GEEP 2.0, was in three categories: Trader-moni, Market-moni and Farmer-moni, in which beneficiaries would get loans ranging from 50,000 to N300,000 with zero interest depending on the category.

She stressed that the GEEP 2.0 was designed for the vulnerable and low-income Nigerians involved in commercial activity and capacity but never had opportunity to access loans.

She said about 1,142,783 potential beneficiaries had been registered across the 774 LGAs in Nigeria out of which 50,394 were from Kogi.

She added 14,404 out of the 50,394 registered in Kogi had been verified out of which about 3, 437 were enumerated and selected for payment in the first phase.

The minister said a total of 9.9 million children are currently being fed nationwide, adding that President Buhari had approved additional 5 million children to be included.

She commended Governor Yahaya Bello for his immense contribution and commitment which had ensured the great success the NSIP had recorded in Kogi.

Farouq urged all beneficiaries of the various programmes to use the grant and the loans to improve their productivity, create wealth, employment, and improve their living standard.

In his remarks, the Governor thanked the President and the Minister for all the various intervention programmes that the federal government had put in place for Kogi people and Nigeria at large.

The governor, who was represented by the Head of Service, Mrs Hannah Odiyo, thanked the Ministry for identifying with the people of Kogi during the flood disaster that ravaged the state.

He noted that aside partnering with the federal government on NSIP, he established healthcare programme, known as ”Bello Care Programme” which had been taken care of the health needs of the vulnerable citizens of the state free of charge.

The governor said that as ‘a pace setter’ he remained committed and not relent in setting the pace for others to follow in all aspects of the economy.

He urged the federal government to do everything within its power to make Kogi a disaster resilient state, so that it could withstand the incessant flood disasters.

Earlier, Hon Abdukareem Suleiman Onyekehi, the State’s NSIP Focal Person, said the programmes were huge and unprecedented, and meeting government’s aims and objectives towards eradicating poverty, and creating job.

Onyekehi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, said a total of 353,768 beneficiaries had directly and indirectly benefitted from the NSIP in Kogi State.

According to him, 12, 964 youths benefitted in the Npower Batch A and B, while over 26,000 are benefiting in batch C (Stream 1&2) with 30,000 monthly stipend.

The focal person added that about 200,000 public schools’ pupils are currently benefitting in the school feeding programme with the engagement of 3000 cooks in the state.

He further said that over 74,000 poor and vulnerable citizens are beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer who are receiving N10,000 bi-monthly, aimed at eradicating poverty in the state.

He, therefore appreciated the President, the Minister and the Governor for the laudable programmes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the representatives of the minister and the governor presented the cash grant and other items to the various beneficiaries based on their categories.

Mr Ibrahim Arome, the Chairman of Persons with Disability in Kogi, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the the President, the Minister, the Governor and the focal person for the gesture.

Arome specially thanked the governor for the practical inclusion of persons with disability in the state, saying they have been involved directly in all the intervention programmes.

End

By Stephen Adeleye

The Kogi State Government on Saturday, directed the citizens to register for the 2nd phase of the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0) at their respective Secretariats across the 21 local government areas of the state from next week.

Hon. Abdulkareem Suleiman Onyekehi, the State Focal Person, National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), gave the directive after a Stakeholders’ Sensitization and interactive session with the COMOs and LG GEEP Desk Officers in Lokoja.

Onyekehi, had earlier in a statement on Friday said: “the Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers of the National Orientation Agency with the Support of GEEP Desk Officers in the Local Government will be dedicating 3 points per LGA across Kogi state to enable all intending beneficiaries to get enumerated in the application register”.

He, has however directed that the interested applicants should approach only the Secretariats at their respective local government areas to register for the zero interest loans.

”Following the earlier announcement on the plans to designate registration points for the second phase of the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0),

”Interested applicants have been asked to approach secretariats at their respective local government areas to register for the zero interest loans”, he said

Onyekehi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, stressed that the Community Mobilization Officers deployed by the National Orientation Agency in each of the 21 LGAs in Kogi State had the mandate to handle the registration process for all potential beneficiaries.

He emphasised that all interested applicants should not hesitate to approach the LGA Secretariat in their zone alongside members of their groups, cooperatives or association to get their information captured at the register.

He re-emphasized that forms are not required for GEEP 2.0 registration, only intending and eligible beneficiaries who indicates interest will be registered by the COMOs.

He noted that while the COMOs handle the registration, the LGA GEEP Desk Officers would provide necessary support to smoothen the process for the teeming applicants.

He called for participation in the registration as the federal government has created the opportunity for many eligible citizens to benefit from the program.

However, he appealed for security support of the Local Government Chairmen and the cooperation of the public with the registration officers to ensure smooth and hitch-free exercise.

End

The Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) under the Federal Government’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), on Thursday resumed in public primary schools in Kogi Stste.

The Kogi State Focal Person of NSIP, Hon. Abdulkareem Suleiman Onyekehi, told journalists shortly after monitoring some schools in Lokoja on Friday, that the inspection was to ensure strict compliance by the cooks and relevant stakeholders for the appropriate feeding of the school pupils.

The school feeding programme was monitored in company of HGSFP’s Unit Head, Hajia Khadijat Karibo.

Among the schools’ visited was Holy Trinity LGEA Primary School and St Luke LGEA Primary School, Lokoja, where the Head Mistress of the Holy Trinity school, Mrs Modupe Olurundare, expressed her delight to have received such personalities in the school.

The head mistress commended the Caterers for the outstanding service delivered and praised the Focal Person and his team for the surprise visit to the school.

Oluwadare further applauded the Management of NSIP for ensuring effective service delivery in the state.

The head mistress thereafter pleaded for the inclusion of Nursery school pupils, saying they deserved equal right from the Federal Government.

On her part, the Program Manager, Hajia Khadijat Karibo noted that the Federal Government was yet to include the nursery pupils in its budget and as such could not benefit from the feeding programme at the moment. The program targets primary 1-3 pupils with the hope of expansion to cover all pupils.

The focal person and the programme manager also went round the classrooms to inspect and have a taste of the meals, where the pupils expressed their excitement for the gesture from the Federal and State Governments.

The focal person, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, commended His Excellency for his unalloyed support for the program in all ramifications.

”We are grateful to our amiable and pragmatic Governor for taking the lead as far as the NSIP is concerned in Kogi State

”We thanked His Excellency for the office infrastructures provided for NSIP, and for ensuring the enabling environment for the full implementations of all the packages under the NSIP”, Onyekehi said.

The Home-Grown School Feeding Programme is aimed to deliver school feeding to public primary school pupils with a specific focus on increasing school enrolment and reducing malnutrition.

The HGSFP is also designed to empowering community women as cooks and by supporting farmers that help stimulate economic growth.

The HGSFP commenced in Kogi State in February 18, 2019 up to January 16, 2020, and was in progress before the outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic, which made the programme to be put on hold, and reintroduced on Thursday July 15, 2021.

The HGSFP had been on pilot stage in Kogi, and had engaged about 1,400 caterers to feed the current number of over 85,000 pupils.

Additional caterers were being recruited in order to capture more public primary schools to accommodate more pupils who were yet to benefit from the scheme.

Currently, Kogi State has captured over 177, 640 pupils to be fed by 2,937 cooks.

Concerted efforts are in high gear to capture all public primary schools in Kogi State with a total of over 258,000 pupils as recently validated by the National Bureau of Statistics.

END

The people of Ajaokuta has been called to turn out enmasse for the ongoing All People’s Congress (APC) membership registration and revalidation exercise of the African largest party holding across the country.

The Special Adviser to Kogi State Governor on Special Duties, Hon. Abdulkareem Suleiman Onyekehi, made the passionate call over the wekeend while delegating some youths for community mobilization towards ensuring mass turn out across Ajaokuta.

According to Onyekehi, no one can acheive the desired change by not actively participating in politics, and urged the good people of Ajaokuta to turn out enmasse to register and revalidate their membership of the largest party in Africa.

He stressed that by registering with the party, the people could collectively fight for the progress of Ajaokuta, drive leadership change through the power of voter cards and also stand the chance of being part of the leadership.

The special adviser called on all the good people of ajaokuta home and away to take utilise the advantage across the 14 wards to turn out and register for the party.

“This is a call for progress, unity, socioeconomic and political development of ajaokuta Local Government Area. The more we are together, the bigger and happier we shall be”, he said.

End