Date: 2017-06-24

No fewer than 8,000 beneficiaries of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) of the Federal Government in Kwara have received their outstanding stipends.

Director of the scheme, Mrs. Aminat Bagudu, told newsmen on Thursday that participants in the 12 local governments of the state, whose data were captured earlier, have had their backlog of stipends cleared.

Bagudu said the cash payment method was adopted due to the beneficiaries' educational background and non-availability of banks in rural areas where they resided.

"We decided to take the payment down to each local government where the beneficiaries reside with no banks there. "Through that, we have saved them the stress of coming to the state headquarters in Ilorin to collect their stipends.

"We have been able to pay them four months backlog from December and we will continue to pay until we get to zero backlog.

"The remaining local governments that are yet to benefit from the programme have been captured and their names sent to Abuja," the SIP director explained.