NEWS
283,003 Lagos Residents to Receive N25,000 FG’s Conditional Cash Transfer
By Kunle Idowu
The Federal Government has commenced training of the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer facilitators in Lagos State for the enrolment of 283,003 beneficiaries.
At the one-day training for the facilitators on Tuesday in Lagos, Dr Micheal Ajuluchuku, the National Programme Manager, National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), Abuja, said the initiative would bring financial relief to vulnerable citizens in the state.
The Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer of President Bola Tinubu’s administration would provide 15 million Nigerian households with cash transfer of N25,000 for three months.
Ajuluchuku said the step-down training was designed to equip the facilitators on enrollment of the 283,003 beneficiaries in the state.
He charged the facilitators for the speedy enrolment process of beneficiaries in order to complete the circle as planned.
He was represented by Hajia Zanaib Usman, an official of the National Cash Transfer Office, Abuja.
He said the programme was non-partisan and non-political adding that the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer Programme was for only Nigerians.
According to him, the project focus would be on rural and urban, poor and vulnerable households in the country.
“The design of the scale of NASSP-SU intervention has two components, Shock Responsive Social Protection (Urban), and Shock Responsive Social Protection, (Rural) that is aimed at providing N25,000 for three months to beneficiaries amounting to N75,000,” he said.
On the selection process, he said the National Social Safety Net Project has two programme implementing units, the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office, responsible for the population of data of the poor and vulnerable across the country.
“Basically, their mandate is to generate data of the poor and the vulnerable.
“The second programme implementation unit is the National Cash Transfer Office, which is mainly responsible for delivering the intervention.
“To us at NCTO, we mine these two data of the poor and vulnerable from the National Safety Net Coordinating Office.
“The criteria are that the beneficiaries must be poor and vulnerable and must fall between the poverty line as established by the Federal Government so that is how this data is obtained for intervention.
“This programme, the design is such that it is non-partisan and non-political. It is for Nigerians and Nigerians as a whole.
“As you are aware, poverty does not know political party, poverty hits whoever that comes its way,” he said.
Ajuluchuku noted that President Bola Tinubu decided to sustain the project which started with the former administration because of the impact the programme had made in the lives of Nigerians.
He said that Tinubu’s administration had increased the number from two million to 15 million beneficiaries.
“This is basically because the country is hit with a lot of challenges, economical, inflation, fuel subsidy removal and so on.
“The government is not just sitting back without addressing the challenges,” he said.
Also, Commissioner, Lagos State Wealth Creation, Akinyemi Ajigbotafe, lauded the Federal Government commitment through the NCTO under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Ajigbotafe said the programme had put smiles on the faces of benefitting households across the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
He also appreciated Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his relentless support and care for the downtrodden in the state.
He said the great humanitarian strides and efforts was evidenced in the various humanitarian programmes to cater for the poor, the vulnerable and the indigent citizens in the state.
“It is truly a great rising season for our state.
“President Bola Tinubu launched the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) in November, 2023 to mitigate amongst others, the economic shocks arising from government policies.
“With this, the Federal Government established a time-limited economic shock Response – Cash Transfers of N25,000 for 283,003 poor and vulnerable households in Lagos State to cushion the effect of the on-going economic reforms as mandated.
“A total of 283,003 poor and vulnerable households have been mined for enrolment into conditional cash transfer in the state.
“This includes 209,385 mined Poor and Vulnerable Households and 73,618 from the National Social Register and Rapid Response exercise.
“This will aid the capacity building of the nominated 186 cash transfer facilitators to be equipped for this task,” he said.
The commissioner urged the cash transfer facilitators to be a beacon of hope to the beneficiaries and good ambassadors of the state.
“To the facilitators, do not forget that you are by extension, a beacon of hope to the beneficiaries since the information you garner from them and input into the server will be used to facilitate the payment of N25,000 to them.
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr Abiodun Onayele, said the National Cash Transfer Office had commenced the immediate roll-out of cash transfers to beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope Cash Transfer Programme.
Onayele said the programme would provide 15 million poor and vulnerable Nigerian households with N25,000 monthly for three months.
He said that priority would be given to female adult households.
“As part of the institutional arrangement, the cash transfer facilitators who are drawn from local governments and local council development areas of the wards where the targeted beneficiaries were validated must be enrolled into the Cash Transfer programme.
“The facilitators must attend an enrollment training on utilisation of digital gadgets to capture and validate the beneficiaries,” Onayele said.
The Programme Manager, Conditional Cash Transfer, Lagos State, Lola Orimogunje, urged beneficiaries to provide their National Identification Numbers (NIN) during the enrollment process to meet the eligibility criteria for opening bank accounts in fulfilment of the recent Central Bank of Nigeria directives.
Orimogunje said that all beneficiaries would be paid through their bank accounts.
She noted that those with existing bank accounts would be paid through their accounts while new accounts would be opened by the programme for those without bank accounts.
According to her, this strategy will help to ensure all beneficiaries are financially included through the programme.
“Each beneficiary will receive N25,000 per circle, for three payment circles, culminating in total financial support of N75,000 only.
“This financial assistance is to make a significant impact on the lives of the beneficiaries, contributing to their well-being and resilience due to the hardship caused by the current economic reforms in the country.
“We urge the public to visit their communities to enquire if their community is part of the current disclosure.
“They should check their names on the disclosure list which is often displayed on a location agreed by the community members for unhindered access and convenience of the members for validation and enrolment,” she said.
Enrolment Officer, National Cash Transfer Office, Abuja, Muhammed Adams, explained the processes of enrolment for the Cash Transfer to the facilitators.
Adams urged the facilitators to participate fully in the training in order to conduct a smooth enrolment process.
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)
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