Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

A Non-Governmental Organisation, on Sunday said no fewer than 41,900 people had so far benefited from its ‘Livelihood Support’ Programme in Kogi, in the last 30 months.

Anicetus Atakpu , Acting Coordinator, Humanitarian and Resilience Unit, ActionAid Nigeria, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.

He said the beneficiaries were drawn from four communities in Adavi and Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Areas of the state.

Atakpu gave the breakdown of the targeted group to include 9,200 youths, 10,200 women and 22,500 other categories in the community, including out-of-school children and the aged.

The Coordinator explained that the project, with a lifespan of two and a half years, was conceived to help address societal challenges such as unemployment, poverty and inequality, among others.

He said the intervention had equipped the beneficiaries with skills, thereby addressing issues of income-generation.

To attain this feat, Atakpu said in July, AAN completed nine of its livelihood support projects worth N35 million, comprising one rice milling and three maize processing machines, a block molding industry, a bakery, as well as a borehole to address the potable water needs of the communities.

The Coordinator further explained that under the ActionAid intervention project, the organisation trained community members in various fields in the last few months.

He said the current intervention programme would end in December, but added that ActionAid had concluded plans to add four more Local Government Areas and 11 communities to the programme in the next dispensation, commencing January 2019.