Daniel Agbo
Makurdi
Twelve thousand poor and vulnerable persons in Benue state have been captured to benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of the federal government Social Investment Programmes (SIP).
The 12,000 persons are from Ado, Oju, Ogbadibo, Buruku, Gwer West, Guma, Ushongo, Katsina Ala and Vandeikya, 9 out of the 23 local government areas of the state.
Head of Media, Benue State Social Investments office, Mr. Dan Ajah, who disclosed this to newsmen yesterday in Makurdi, stated that 65,000 poor and vulnerable people were initially captured in the benefitinglocal government areas.
According to him, the 12,000 beneficiaries would receive N5, 000 monthly payments under the CCT as a form of social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable as budgeted for in the 2017 budget.
“The payment of the money will commence as from first week of November, 2017.
“The cash transfer facilitators have been trained from the benefiting local government areas to drive the programme.
“Beneficiaries of the programme were chosen from nine LGAs, three from each senatorial districts of the state and have been captured into the existing Social Register that successfully identified the most vulnerable and poorest Nigerians through a tried and tested community based targeting (CBT) method,” he explained.
Ajah further explained that to ensure, transparency, objectivity and credibility in the selection of the poorest and vulnerable beneficiaries, the federal government adopted the CBT for developing the social register in the benefitting local government areas in the state.
He said the state office has already concluded the community mobilisation, identification and selection processes and the information gathered from the poorest households have been entered into the Social Register in the states and the National Register at NIBSS, waiting for the cash disbursement to the beneficiaries.
