FG approves N10 bn for Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme

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Written by Abdullateef Abubakar Jos

Federal Government has approved N10 billion for the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme,

aimed at developing education, healthcare and transfer of agricultural enterprise.

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced the approval in Abuja on

Monday at the opening session of the National Consultation on the Post 2015 Development

Agenda, organised by Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office.

She said that half of the money came from the 24 participating states of the federation.

The minister said the scheme was a multi-faceted programme implemented in the run-up

to the 2015 deadline.

Okonjo-Iweala said that there was a need to target investment skills development of the

youth to enhance productivity in the labour market.

According to her, targeting investment in skills development of youths population will

enhance their productivity in the labour market.

``The only way of capturing youth education and skills training within a Post-2015 Agenda

will be to take youth unemployment target.

``The unemployment target is informed by indicators such as participation rates in youth

vocational training and tertiary education enrolment,’’ she said.

She said that one billion people across the world would continue to live in extreme poverty

and that many still did not have access to basic healthcare.

In a speech, Dr Precious Gbeneol, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs,

said the forum was to ensure that the planning process for a post-2015 Development

Agenda had participatory foundation.

Gbeneol said the contributions of Nigerians would be taken into consideration in the

formulation of post-2015 development agenda.

According to her, MDGs framework has been lauded for focusing development attention on

key aspects, such as poverty, health and education indicators, but criticised for not

including their formulation.