and Empowerment Programme to improve their capital and expand on their businesses, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, said on Tuesday.
The minister who made the announcement in Abuja during an advocacy visit to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the programme would be implemented in three phases with 500,000 persons scheduled to benefit from the first phase. “The Iyaloja Fund will be providing for poor market women-traders in the market, helping them to improve on their capital and expand on their businesses. These are non-interest loans given to these persons.”Edu said the administration of President Bola Tinubu has reiterated its commitment to fighting poverty through the eight-point agenda by announcing a conditional cash transfer of N75,000 in three tranches in support of 15 million households, which translates to 62 million individuals.
“This programme is not the one you give contract to people to build houses. The communities will build their houses by themselves. We would just provide the enabling environment. And they are expected to source for everything they will use to build that house locally, including the furniture in the house,” the Minister emphasised.