The Federal Government, through its cash transfer programme, has expended N48.1 billion on eradicating poverty and improving livelihoods in Kano State.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Monday during a beneficiary engagement meeting in Kano.

Mr Doro said that the Household Prosperity and Empowerment – Cash Transfer (HoPE-CT) programme was already yielding tangible outcomes across the country.

This, he said, was an indication that small interventions could create meaningful change.

According to him, the visit to Kano is aimed at strengthening the programme’s impact through direct engagement with beneficiaries.

“This visit is a working engagement to listen directly to beneficiaries and to validate whether what we are designing at the national level is translating into real, measurable impact on the ground.

“We cannot rely only on reports or dashboards; we must rely on people, on their experiences and on their realities,” he said.

The minister explained that the programme was anchored on a clear policy direction of “One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response System,” stressing that interventions must be coordinated, tracked, and structured toward achieving clear outcomes.

He added that government support must lead to stability and growth, and provide a pathway out of poverty.

Mr Doro stated that in all the 44 local government areas of the state, the first tranche of the programme recorded a disbursement of N19.61 billion, the second N14.55 billion, while the third tranche stood at N13.96 billion.

He said that the cumulative total disbursed in the state amounted to N48.1 billion, stressing that it was aimed at supporting households and creating real opportunities for beneficiaries.

The minister commended the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Children and Persons with Special Needs for her dedication to ensuring that vulnerable households, particularly women and children, were connected to government interventions.

Speaking, Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf said that the engagement was aimed at enhancing the well-being of Kano residents through the Conditional Cash Transfer programme.

Mr Kabir-Yusuf, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Amina Sani-Abdullahi, appreciated the minister’s visit and interaction with the beneficiaries.

He described it as a demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable Nigerians.

The governor said that the initiative aligned with his administration’s plan to uplift the socio-economic status of families in the state.

He said that the state had also empowered 5,200 women with N50,000 each monthly to support small businesses.

Mr Kabir-Yusuf added that, as part of activities marking the International Day of Families, 500 families were supported with food items and other essentials.

He said that the interventions reflected ongoing efforts by both federal and state governments to improve the living conditions of vulnerable 

groups.

 (NAN)