Namibia to increase old age grants: President Geingob

Namibia will increase the old age social grants and provide subsidies for ploughing services in 2017, President Hage Geingob has said.

In his New Year's message, Geingob said the old age social grants will be increased by 100 Namibian dollars (about 7 U.S dollars) from 1,100 Namibian dollars per month as from June 2017.

Geingob also said the government will subsidize ploughing services, fertilizers and seeds to communal farmers starting from mid-January 2017.

Furthermore, Geingob said the government's plans of servicing 6,000 plots as well as the construction of 5,000 houses will materialize in 2017.

In addition, he said, the second land conference that will review the progress made since the 1991 conference has been scheduled for September.

Geingob said although Namibia has had problems in 2016, the nation can forge ahead if all the people adopt a single-minded resolution to rededicate themselves to fully implement the set goals and objectives.

"This is therefore, the Year of Rededication," he declared, adding that the challenges Namibia faced in 2016 will persist in 2017.

"A resilient and innovative approach will therefore be required to mitigate the severity of these challenges," he said. Endit