Under the Nigerian COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, (AN-CARES) Programme, the Adamawa State Government has began the implementation of Labour-Intensive Public Workfare (LIPW) with orientation and enrolment of 1,950 beneficiaries across 21 local governments.
Adamawa State Community and Social Building Agency (ADCSDA) established a programme aimed at providing employment possibilities to adolescents and women aged 18 to 50 from low-income families through the development and maintenance of local infrastructure that does not require particular skills.
Each recipient of the programme would get a monthly stipend of 10,000 naira for a period of 12 months in the first circle of the programme to carry out designated public works in their respective communities.
Addressing the beneficiaries recently in Gombi, the headquarters of the Local Government Council, ADCSDA General Manager Prof. Anthony Dami said that the beneficiaries, who are all unemployed, had been verified, validated, and registered in the Labour Intensive Public Workfare.
Dami stated that the beneficiaries must perform mandatory assigned work for at least four hours per day, five days per week, sign the daily work attendance register, attend and actively participate in life-skill trainings on designated days, and take good care of work tools and materials, among other things.
“You will be paid 10,000 naira every month, government is not going to give you the money without you making your own contributions and that is why they are going to engage you into a labour work, your community will select the type of project they want.
“I want to assure that from the management of the agency, you are going to be engaged for one year, and all that is accrued to you, your entitlements, your benefits will be given to you during the orientation.
“The World Bank and his Excellency, so the need that because of the impact of COVID, this programme came on board to cushion the effect of COVID, to help you to regain your sources of livelihood, to engage our youths that are roaming about and doing nothing,” he said.
Prof Dami said that people with a Secondary School Certificate or lower will be dispatched to work in their communities.
Prof Dami praised Governor Ahmadu Umar Fintiri for his support of the project in the state, which will empower women and youths while also making vulnerable houses functional and productive.
The General Manager advised the recipients to take the training seriously and to save some of their stipends as seed money to enable them to start into diverse livelihoods.
Mrs. Hapsatu Umar and Mr. Bamayi Sunday, whose excitement knew no bounds, thanked Governor Ahmadu Umar Fintiri for providing them with the opportunity and promised to use it to enable them to become self-sufficient.