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.