The Federal Government has so far disbursed over N184 million to 4, 617 households in Nasarawa State under its Social Investment Programme targeted at the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Mr Magaji Amos, the state Head of Cash Transfer Unit of the programme, disclosed this at a meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Thursday in Lafia.
According to him, all the beneficiaries have received N5, 000 each from December 2017 to July 2018.
He said that the office was just waiting for allocations from their headquarters to pay the outstanding in August and September.
Amos also said that additional 4, 918 households were captured, making the total number of beneficiaries 9, 535 in the state.
Amos said that the programme was aimed at reducing hardship being faced by households as well as to reduce the level of poverty in the country.
He said the beneficiaries were selected from six out of the 13 local government areas in the state for the pilot scheme because a survey carried out showed that poor people were more in those areas.
Amos listed the beneficiary local government areas as Awe, Lafia, Akwanga, Wamba, Kokona, and Nasarawa LGAs respectively, according to the Nes Agency of Nigetia, NAN.
He said that the office had put machinery in motion to ensure that the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the money to add value to their lives.
Mr Fidelis Onyejegbu, a representative of Centre for Social Justice in Abuja, who was in the state to monitor the disbursement, commended the office for a job well done.
He said that their organisation’s major aim was to monitor the handling of recovered looted assets to ensure transparency and accountability.
He said that they were working in partnership with other CSOs to create awareness in order make the government accountable in the management of looted assets.
Abdullazis Bako, the Nasarawa State Coordinator of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), who spoke on behalf of other CSOs, said they would visit all beneficiary communities to ensure that beneficiaries were not shortchanged.