The Federal Government has extended the policy on extreme poverty to petty traders, widows and other vulnerable to rural communities in Bauchi State. The government is disbursing N20,000 conditional cash transfer to poor women petty traders, artisans resident in the hinterlands in Bauchi State.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Paulen Tallen, administering the first phase of fund transfer to beneficiaries, disclosed that over 1,000 women are targeted for the rural intervention. About 200 beneficiaries have received the fund in Bauchi Local Government.
“We identified those into petty trading, widows, and the vulnerable. We identified those with small businesses. It is based on these factors that the beneficiaries are identified,” Tallen Pauline had explained.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in a recent report indicated that 40 per cent of Nigeria’s population, or about 83 million people, live below the poverty line and 52% of these live-in rural areas.