...launches pilot data capture for financial inclusion in KaruFrom Our Government House Correspondent
Governor Abdullahi Sule has rounded off the third phase of the distribution of 7.5kg of rice alongside five thousand naira as palliative, with 2200 beneficiaries drawn across Keffi, Karu, and Karshi development area.
Another 300 equally benefited from the three wards of Panda development area.
Speaking in Karu Local Government Area on Friday, Governor Sule said the exercise presented an opportunity for him to update the people of Nasarawa State about the economic challenges currently facing the country and how both the Federal Government and his administration are making efforts to alleviate the plight of the people.
"The idea of me going round is for me to be able to, at least, brief you about what we are going through," he said.
The Governor pointed that, as a state, his administration must be seen to be supporting citizens of the state even before the Federal Government intervention.
"That is the reason we have gone round to select the most vulnerable, 100 from each of the 147 wards across the 13 local government areas.
"It would have been difficult to have gathered all these beneficiaries at one location.
"That explains why we are doing it batch by batch," he said.
He added that by going round personally to supervise the distribution, it also gave him the opportunity to further appreciate the people.
Governor Sule once more informed the people that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is doing everything possible to come up with policies and programmes targeted at cushioning the effects of the economic challenges and hardship being experienced across the country.
He noted that the official flag off of the
Neighborhood Financial Inclusion (NFIC) registration exercise and data capture, with Karu Local Government Area as pilot in the country, is one of the interventions by the Federal Government where the citizens are expected to register in order to obtain their BVN and PIN number to enable them benefit from the cash palliative.
He urged the people to take advantage of the NFIC starting in Nasarawa State and Karu Local Government Area in particular.
The Governor also used the opportunity of the event to update the people about the several interventions being undertaken by his administration geared towards cushioning the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.
Among such interventions by the Nasarawa State Government include the conditional cash transfer, popularly known as Kudin A. A. Sule, where 6000 widows, orphans, and the elderly will receive N7000 for 24 months.
" We started the payment for two months in February so that the beneficiaries can go and start something. The reason why we selected these people is that there are a lot of widows that the ten thousand naira means so much to them," he said.
He recounted how some of the beneficiaries of the scheme in Wamba Local Government Area who pooled their stipends together in a community thrift to empower their members with working capital from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand naira as working capital.
"That is what we expect to see. I don't want to give fish. I prefer that I teach you how to catch fish," he stated.
Governor Sule said his administration recently approved one billion naira as payment of one hundred percent gratuity for retirees from the state who retired from 1996 when Nasarawa State was created to 2010.
"Since the creation of the state, there were people who were retired since 1996 that have not been paid their gratuity.
"As a result of the improved revenue that we are seeing today, we decided that all those that have retired from 1996 to 2010 we have paid them one hundred percent of their gratuity," he said.
Other interventions by the state government are in the area of healthcare, where Governor Sule approved five hundred million naira for the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NSHIA) and another two hundred and fifty million for the state revolving drug scheme, aimed at offsetting the cost of healthcare services, as well as procure quality and affordable drugs to be sold at public hospitals.
"A lot of people could not register under the health insurance scheme so we approved N500m for the agency to be able to capture more citizens who ordinarily could not afford to register," he added.
In a welcome address, Chairman of Karu Local Government Area, Hon. James Thomas, commended the Governor for carrying the third phase of palliative distribution in the local government in particular and the state in general.
Hon Thomas disclosed that Karu Local Government Area is the first amongst the 774 local governments in the country to officially launch data capture for the citizens under the NFIC to enable benefit from the cash palliative from the Federal Government.
Also speaking, National President, Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Sarafadeen Fasasi, said a research has shown that over 300 local government in Nigeria are without bank branches and without bank branches, they cannot modify their BVN.
Fasasi said the researched also showed that in Nasarawa State only seven out of the thirteen have bank branches.
He added that his organization is working in conjunction with the office of the Vice President to ensure that those living in rural areas are not locked out of the country's financial system.
