By Correspondent in Minna
Niger state has in the past five years received over N28 billion from the federal government,disbursed to several of its Special Intervention Programme (SIP) across boards, the Focal person for Niger state, Barrister Amina Gwer has said.
Briefing journalists at the Government House, Minna Wednesday on the areas of the SIP interventions, Amina said the Federal government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government towards the implementation of various programmes.
“A total of 19, 753 households cutting across the 274 political Wards from the 25 Local Government Areas have so far benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfer and the co responsibility scheme to the tune of N3.8b”.
The federal government, according to her also spent additional Nine hundred and sixty-one million, six hundered and seventy thousand Naira on its Trader Moni and Market Moni economic empowerment scheme for 62, 112 beneficiaries.
Gwer, who however said it is unfortunate that the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari led APC government is under reported pointed out that, so far, the on-going Home Grown school feeding programme in Niger state had gulped N12 billion for 14, 000 public primary school pupils across the 25 Local Government Areas.
On the N-power scheme,Gwer stressed that a total of 12, 171 graduates had passed through the scheme in the State with an estimated cost of over 11 billion, fourty one million two hundered ninety thousand Naira between the year, 2016 and 2017.
Gwer, who debunked insinuations that the programmes were targeted at only the ruling APC members said, “It is not only the APC members that benefited but everybody. Some of the beneficiaries are PDP who have decided to join the APC because after the incentive”.
While also insisting that the exercise is devoid of tribal sentiments, Gwer said, “Some of the people we use as master bakers are not even from Niger state. The Chairman, Mr. Sylvester, is an Igbo man and the Secretary also not even a Nigerian, but from Niger Republic.”
