12,108 persons to receive N1.2bn FG's Conditional Cash Transfer in Edo

Cross of beneficiaries of Federal Government Conditional Cash Transfer in Oredo local government  area of Edo State.

By Editor

April 27, 2023

A total of 12,108 persons in six local government areas in Edo State will benefit from the N1,210,800billion Federal Government Conditional Cash Transfer Programme. 

BusinessDay reports that the benefitting local governments are Oredo, Ovia South West, Igueben, Esan West, Etsako Central and Owan East. 

BusinessDay also reports that out of the figures a total of 3,124 persons from Oredo local government area had already benefited from N312,400million. 

The beneficiaries have started receiving ATM cards preloaded with N100,000 being the  backlog of  payment of the 20 months owed them.

Osayuwamen Aladeselu, the Edo State Focal Person of the  Social Investment Programme while handing over the ATM cards to beneficiaries from Oredo Local government area in Benin City said 12,108 persons will benefit in the six pilot local governments. 

Osayuwamen, who spoke on behalf of the National Cash Transfer Office and the Edo State Government noted that the delay in payment was due to issues with the  previous payment service provider as well as the National Cash Transfer Officer suspended payments until the issues were resolved. 

According to her,  the process of payment which is coordinated by the National Cash Transfer Officer through a payment service provider has taken a new turn with card disbursements instead of the cash payments as previously done in 2019. 

"The number of beneficiaries has increased from 11,407 in the initial payments to 12,108 and we are hopeful that over 500,000  will benefit from the programme when it scales up to the remaining 12 local governments in the state. 

"The Conditional Cash Transfer Programme in the Edo State Social Investment Programme kicked off  in 2018 with the setting up of the State Operations Coordinating Unit (SOCU) and later on the setting up of the State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU). 

"The beneficiaries are those who are enlisted in the Social register by their communities through the World Bank's approved Community Based Targeting Mechanism which involves communities defining poverty and enlisting those who fall within the poverty indices",she said. 

The State Focal Person said the state has updated its social register by registering over 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households across the 18 local governments of Edo state. 

She  enjoined the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the funds as it is expected that the funds will take care of their basic needs, give them better lives and become self-sustained through livelihood activities that they have been trained on. 

She lauded the Federal Government  for ensuring that the cash transfers are paid directly to beneficiaries in the state. 

She also commended the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki for supporting the programme and creating an enabling environment for the programme to thrive.

On his part Emmanuel Abisola, the team lead,Unified Payment Services Limited, (the Payment Service Provider for Edo) said the ATM cards being issued to the beneficiaries can be used on ATM and POS platforms. 

Earlier, Flora Bossey, the Head of State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU) said  the ATM Card distribution would be distributed to the beneficiaries across the six pilot local government areas. 

Bossey said the state has continued to contribute towards the success of the programme, providing human resources and a conducive office environment for the programme. 

She explained that 3,124 persons from Oredo local government that have started collecting their debit cards are part of the 12,108 beneficiaries under the programme in the state.