The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection allocates more than $2.3million yearly in social welfare assistance for more than 1978 people in Lomaiviti.
In an address to the eight villages of the district of Mudu on Tuesday, Social Welfare officer – Lomaiviti Viliame Toroca said the allocation depended on the number of new recipients and the termination of assistance.
“There are more than 8000 people benefit from social welfare recipients in the country,” he said.
“In a year, the government will try to fork out more than $90million for the assistance program.
“Over $2.3million is allocated to the province of Lomaiviti, and that’s for one year alone. That’s to benefit more than 1978 people in the province.”
Mr Toroca said that on Koro island, there are 396 social welfare recipients.
“In one month the department has paid out over $48,000 of assistance (Koro) depending on the number of recipients, terminated recipients and new applicants.
“In one year, over half a million dollars of social welfare assistance is paid out to recipients on the Island.”
Mr Toroca encouraged the islanders to engage in businesses that would sustain them financially rather than rely solely on government handouts.
“As you can see, a lot of people have benefitted from this assistance, however, the poverty rate has increased, especially for the iTaukei.
“That’s why we are urging you all to make use of government grants to establish businesses, cooperatives and farms.”
