By Nneka Nwogwugwu
President Muhammadu Buhari has scored his performance in eradicating poverty and providing food since his administration.
He announced on Tuesday that N300 billion has been disbursed to farmers while 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme.
The president revealed this while virtually declaring open the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Abuja.
According to him, some of the various initiatives embarked upon to boost agricultural trade in Nigeria include the Anchor Borrowers Programme.
He stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria had made more than N300 billion available to over 3.1 million smallholder farmers of 21 different commodities.
He said the commodities included Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Cassava, Poultry, Soybeans, Groundnut, Fish, cultivating over 3.8 million hectares of farmland.
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“It is on record that 80% of rice consumed in Nigeria is now produced locally,’’ he said.
He added that the National Social Register of poor and vulnerable Nigerians had 32.6 million persons from seven million poor and vulnerable households identified, imploring bankers to play a stronger role in improving livelihoods.
“From this number, 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households, comprising more than eight million individuals are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer program, which pays a bi-monthly stipend of N10, 000 per household,’’ he said.
Also, he noted that the National Social Investment Programme was biggest in Sub-Sahara Africa and one of the largest in the world.
The president said a report from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew 5.01 per cent in the second quarter of 2021; the strongest rise since the fourth quarter of 2014.
“This is cheery news and an indication that the efforts of this administration at repositioning the economy is paying off,’’ he said.
He urged the bankers and financial institutions to leverage on the abundant business opportunities to grow the economy.
President Buhari implored financial institutions to play stronger role in making sure the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises were fit for purpose, with support in full implementation of “Agreement”.
