By; Juliana Katung, Kaduna.
As part of its strategy to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty, the federal Government of Nigeria is to grant one million people; Farmers, market women, loans to set up small businesses.
Its also set to train 500,000 graduates to be employed as teachers and 370,000 non-graduates (artisans, technicians) to be trained and employed.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed in Kaduna during a Town Hall meeting organized by his Ministry saying the Buhari administration planed to elevate Nigerians from poverty
through six social intervention areas that will greatly impact on the economy as well as on lives.
According to him, the above mention programme is already in the 2016 Budget which has just been signed by Mr. President.
“Conditional Cash Transfer to be made to the most
vulnerable people, not unemployed graduates. School Feeding targeting 4.5 million school children and Bursaries/Scholarships for Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students” he added.
He said that the Federal Ministry of Information decided to organize the Townhall meeting to intimate Nigerians how government has fared in the last 11 months.
The Minister noted that Nigerians “voted for us believing that we will carry out our promises. So how have we fared so
far? Well, we campaigned on three broad areas: To tackle insecurity, fight corruption and revive the economy.”
On the fight against insecurity, he said, “I am happy to inform this gathering that we have performed a rare feat by subduing Boko Haram, making it impossible for the group to carry out any more spectacular attacks as it did in the past when it virtually strolled into Abuja to attack the Police
Headquarters and the UN Complex.
“Some will argue that the insurgents are still carrying out sporadic suicide bombings and other attack, even though they are now very few. Well, our answer to that is simple: By its very nature, no insurgency ends suddenly. They taper off with time. Insurgencies are not conventional wars and no agreements are signed to silence the guns” he further stated.
Also speeking during the meeting, the Minister of State for
Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu has promised that new refineries will soon be built beside the existing ones in order to curb shortage of petroleum products in the country.
According to him, apart from tackling the scarcity in the country, when fully operational, Nigeria will also stand a
chance to export to other countries.
