Npower News: Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Appeals To President Bola Ahmed Tinubu To Appoint A New Minster For Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation

A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint a new minister for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly on his progressive policies, support for People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens, also commended the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Remi Tinubu, for her firm support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in addition to the agricultural support Senator Remi Tinubu has recently extended to women and youths as well as People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) across the federation as the farming season has begun in earnest.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Comrade Aliyu Muhammad Sani, maintained that their main objective of organising the press conference was to join several other groups and individuals to drum support for Mrs Halimat Adenike Tejuosho, who has over the years distinguished herself as a true humanitarian to be appointed as the minister for humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

Comrade Aliyu Muhammad Sani, said, “Today we join PWDs across the 36 states and FCT as well APC PWDs leaders in the 36 states and all other stakeholders like Senators, APC stalwarts, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), credible and objective observers and youth parliaments across the country who have been agitating and consulting widely for the appointment of this seasoned humanitarian as a minister.

“As a selfless patriot who has been using her personal resources to bring succour to senior citizens, PWDs and the less privileged through her well-thought-out Queen Adenike Tejuosho Foundation (QATFoundation), giving her a position of responsibility in line with her passion and interest will energise her to do more for the downtrodden of our society,” Comrade Aliyu Muhammad Sani, said.

Source: https://leadership.ng/csos-urge-appointment-of-humanitarian-affairs-minister/

₦1,000,000,000 Federal Government Loans Available For Businesses At 9% Interest Rate — Wale Edun

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says the Federal Government is offering businesses including manufacturers in the country federal government loan up to ₦1,000,000,000 at a 9% interest rate.

Wale Edun, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, said the current administration recognises the challenge of entrepreneurs to access affordable funds for their businesses, hence the federal government loan initiative.

Wale Edun said small-scale entrepreneurs can get up to ₦1,000,000,000 in federal government loan while larger businesses can access up to ₦1,000,000,000 at 9% interest rate, which is cheaper than the current interest rate of 26.25 % recommended to commercial banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),

Wale Edun said, “The emphasis is on ramping up food production, the emphasis is on dealing with food nutrition and food insecurity.

“Likewise, the emphasis is on helping small-scale businesses through grants, and nano enterprises through grant funding. That is being rolled out and it’s being done in a manner which, as I said before, is a world-class standard where you identify biometrically the person that is the beneficiary and you pay them through a digital process which you can easily reconcile.

“That is the emphasis, to make sure that we ramp up that speed and the scale of the help that is there even loans are 9% for medium scale enterprises, up to 1 million naira for the smaller enterprises and then for the larger enterprises up to 1 billion naira funding at 9% so that those manufacturing firms can invest grow the economy employ people produce more goods that will help to bring down inflation.”

Wale Edun assured Nigerians that food prices would come down in the coming months.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said though food insecurity is a worldwide phenomenon, the government has dedicated special funding for infrastructure to boost agricultural output.

Wale Edun said, “Inflation, yes, it is high at 33.65%, food inflation at 40.5% is worrisomely high but the fact is that inflation is coming down, month-on-month. It is slowing and it is expected to reduce as we continue the dry season harvest and then we go into the wet season harvest. That is the place to focus on and a lot of emphasis is being placed on that to get agriculture output up, to get prices down, and that will be a nig factor in bringing down inflation.”

Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last weeks, as Nigerians battle the country’s current economic crisis sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.

Source: https://www.channelstv.com/2024/06/03/%E2%82%A61bn-loan-available-for-businesses-at-9-interest-rate-wale-edun/

Npower News: Over One Hundred Thousand Anambra Households To Benefit From Conditional Cash Transfer

Over one hundred thousand vulnerable households in Anambra State are to benefit from the ongoing “Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer Programme” of the Federal Government.

The Head of the Anambra State Conditional Cash Transfer Unit, Mr Ralph Enukora, revealed this in Awka over the weekend during an orientation training for desk officers from the twenty-one local government areas of the state.

Mr Ralph Enukora said that the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer Programme is a scale-up of the National Social Safety Nets Project that began more than five years ago and was meant for the poorest of the poor who were selected from the hard-to-reach areas of each state of Nigeria.

The newly upgraded conditional cash transfer scheme to accommodate vulnerable households in both rural and urban areas of the federation has the aim of lifting poor households out of poverty through the payment of a monthly stipend.

According to Mr Ralph Enukora, the beneficiaries drawn from the twenty-one local government areas of the state would receive ₦25,000 each for three months.

Mr Ralph Enukora revealed that they had been able to enrol over 50,000 persons out of the total number of beneficiaries before the conditional cash transfer programme was suspended by the federal government, revealing that the already-enrolled beneficiaries will start receiving their stipend this month, and other beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer will soon be enrolled as plans towards carrying out the exercise are already complete.

Mr Ralph Enukora stated that the process for enrolment and payment to the beneficiaries is now digitised to ensure accountability and transparency, as the stipend will now be paid directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

On the importance of the training, Mr Ralph Enukora explained that the training was aimed at educating the desk officers on the new changes in the conditional cash transfer programme for proper implementation and management of the conditional cash transfer programme.

Also speaking, the Head of Operation Anambra State Cash Transfer Unit, Lady Florence Makah, reminded the beneficiaries that the conditional cash transfer programme is not a lifelong thing, hence the need for them to judiciously use the stipend to improve their businesses and their lives.

On his part, Management Information System Officer One, Anambra State Cash Transfer Unit, Mr Arinze Melifeonwu, praised the desk officers on the efforts made so far in ensuring success in the implementation of the conditional cash transfer programme in the state, encouraging them to sustain the tempo.

Source: https://tribuneonlineng.com/over-100000-anambra-households-to-benefit-from-fg-cash-transfer-programme/

Federal Government Grant Disbursement Ongoing Today June 4th 2024

The federal government grant disbursement is ongoing as we speak, applicants that registered for the federal government grant but did not receive the federal government grant initially have started getting the federal government grant disbursement into their bank account.

Applicants yet to receive the federal government grant are advised to visit the federal government grant portal and check the number of beneficiaries in their local government area, once the beneficiaries in the applicant's local government area is below 1290 beneficiaries then the applicant might still receive the federal government grant, but if the beneficiaries in the applicant's local government area has gotten to 1290 beneficiaries then regrettably the applicant will not receive the federal government grant disbursement, the applicant should apply for the federal government loan.

Latest Npower News Today Tuesday June 4th 2024

According to Npower News, the National Coordinator has taken to the social handle of National Association of Npower beneficiaries to say that if Npower payment is effected by June 15th a massive demonstration will take place at Abuja. See statement below.

"After my Exams, I'll be ready to come back to the street and keep fighting for you. Anything beyond June 15th without Payments we are definitely going to stage another massive protest in Abuja.

At this point, all I need is your prayer as I dip into my Medical board examinations deeply!!!" the Npower National Coordinator said.

Recall that the Npower National Coordinator had earlier said that they had contacted the Presidency and Npower was said to be lifted this month and Npower payment to beneficiaries of Npower batch c stream 2 will start this month, should this fail to happen an organized peaceful demonstration will take place at the FCT Abuja. 

According to the Npower national coordinator, beneficiaries are advised to exercise patience and avoid any form of violence and wait till June 15th, once Npower payment is not effected then a massive protest will take place.