The Kebbi government has warned beneficiaries of social grants for petty trades against using the money for merriment or family celebrations.

The general manager of the Kebbi Community and Development Agency, Yakubu Yeldu, gave the warning at the disbursement of funds to recipients.

The exercise was done under the Kebbi State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, Social Transfer and Livelihood grants in Bunza LGA on Friday.

He said state and federal government officials would monitor the beneficiaries’ use of the funds.

“The COVID-19 stimulus has been designed for women in purdah, engaged in petty trades such as frying of groundnut cake (kuli-kuli), bean cake (kosai), local juice (kunun zaki), soya bean chips (awara) and other small-scale ventures,” said Mr Yeldu. “Similarly, men will enjoy the largesse like local barbers, or owners of barbing salons, commercial photographers and other petty traders.”

He added, “Under the first phase, 1,050 out of 1,950 individuals from 18 local government areas have been selected from the social register of Kebbi State, and each person would receive between N100,000 and N120,000.”

The government official also explained that the next disbursement would cover the remaining number of people.

According to him, the disbursement in Bunza involved beneficiaries from Bunza, Dandi, Suru and Kalgo local government areas.

The manager thanked Governor Atiku Bagudu for investing N3 billion in the scheme, which had helped uplift the state’s social and economic well-being.

The programme coordinator in Kebbi, Rukayya Muhammad-Bawa, explained that social services had been provided to communities for water supply, construction of classrooms for educational purposes, as well as dispensaries for healthcare and the development of 16 markets across the state.

(NAN)