More than 1.9 million vulnerable Nigerians are to benefit from about N38bn being disbursed as grants of N20,000 each to beneficiaries under the Grant for Vulnerable Groups programme of the Federal Government.

Data released in Abuja on Friday by the National Cash Transfer Office of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management indicated that the bank details of the over 1.9 million beneficiaries had been digitised.

This came as the Humanitarian Minister, Sadiya Farouq, kicked-off the disbursement of N20,000 each to vulnerable and poor residents of the Federal Capital Territory during the commencement of the second round of the programme.

Farouq re-inaugurated the programme, which hitherto was known as Cash Grant for Rural Women, as she stated that it would now be known as Grant for Vulnerable Groups in order to encourage inclusivity.

She further said the Grant for Vulnerable Groups programme was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of the Federal Government.

The minister was quoted in a statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, as saying, “It is consistent with the national target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

“It is designed to provide a one-off grant to some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in rural and peri-urban areas of the country. A cash grant of N20,000 is being disbursed to poor women and youths across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“Our target in the FCT is to disburse the grant to over 2,900 beneficiaries across the six Area Councils. In line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s social inclusion, 70 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries is for women while the remaining 30 per cent is for men.”

Farouq added, “In addition, about 15 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries is specifically allocated to the segment of the population with special needs, including Persons with Disability, internally displaced persons and senior citizens in the FCT.”

In her remarks, the National Coordinator, Conditional Cash Transfer, Halima Shehu, announced that the Grant for Vulnerable Groups was now fully digitised.

She said, “From the National Cash Transfer office, we have fully digitised the process. We have over 1.9 million beneficiaries that now have NUBAN accounts in commercial banks across the country.

“This is a huge milestone because records have shown that there is no programme of this type that has achieved such success. Six months ago, we flagged off digitisation. All our beneficiaries now have debit cards from different banks across the country.

“We have given them a lot of coaching and mentoring financially and so we can now say that they have been financially included because they are now fully banked.”