Families of fallen heroes to be included in cash transfer scheme, says Minister

The Federal Government has announced plans to include families of Nigerian fallen soldiers and members of the Nigerian Legion among the beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme.

The move, according to the federal government, is to support vulnerable ex-servicemen, widows and the dependents of fallen heroes.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, disclosed this in a statement by her media aide, Mr Rasheed Zubair, on Thursday.

The minister, who paid a visit to the Ministry of Defence in Abuja, sought accurate data on the affected families of ex-servicemen so as to include them during the ongoing verification of the national social register.

According to Edu, the president had directed that the national social register be expanded to include those vulnerable groups to enable them to benefit from the social intervention programmes.

“This is in line with Mr President’s agenda and I am here to inform you that the programme has been expanded to accommodate retirees of this Ministry, especially deceased families.

“Government intends to support their wives to start up small businesses that will help their children stay in school and provide basic health care,” she said.

Edu also announced the creation of the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which aims to help small-scale businesses in the country.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar, commended the efforts of the Humanitarian Ministry to support the families of the fallen heroes.

He pledged to strengthen collaboration with the ministry to alleviate the plights of Nigerians.

Abubakar said: “Including the retirees in the welfare scheme will go a long way to renew the hope of retired officers, their families and motivate the working officers to secure Nigeria territorial integrity.”

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, retired Maj.-Gen. Abdulmalik Jubril, expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for including the retirees in the CCT scheme.

“The Nigerian Legion is the last hope for retired officers, which keeps increasing by the day.

“We need medical care and a decent livelihood for our members, this organ of the Military, that is the Army, Airforce and Navy retirees needs government support,” he said.