The Katsina State Youths and Women Empowerment Committee has recommended the merger of eight poverty alleviation programmes in the state into a Directorate of Poverty Alleviation for better reults.

Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Abdulkadir Mamman, stated this on Saturday in Katsina, while presenting a report on poverty and unemployment rate at a colloquium to mark 100 days in office of Gov. Aminu Masari.

In the report, the committee also recommended the collation of data on the would-be beneficiaries of the poverty alleviation programmes in the state.

It advised the government to allocate 60 per cent of the N2 billion Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loan to women as contained in the CBN guidelines.

The committee further called on the government to allocate N10 million to people with specialised trades in each of the 34 local government areas of the state to enhance their businesses. It urged the government to establish 361 cottage industries across the state.

The committee assured that if the measures were properly implemented, it would assist in creating job opportunities and boost socio-economic activities in the state.

Earlier, while giving statistics of poverty level in the state, Mamman said that 82.2 per cent of the people were living in abject poverty.

He said that Katsina, with a population of 6.4 million, had 5.3 million poor people, representing 82.2 per cent of the population.

According to him, majority of the poor people live in rural areas of the state. “It is disheartening that Katsina is ranked number 31 in poverty index by the Bureau of Statistics,” Mamman said.

He said that its findings showed that previous administration programmes on poverty alleviation were poorly implemented. He alleged that the previous administration also diverted funds for the programmes and replicated their beneficiaries. (NAN)

•Photo shows Governor Masari.