The Head of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Unit in Kogi, Mrs Falilat Abdulrazaq, said 62, 160 beneficiaries had been captured in the state under the Federal Government’s CCT Household Uplifting Programme (HUP).
Abdulrazaq disclosed this on Saturday in lokoja at a three-day Stepdown training programme “Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)’’ On Household Information Update, organized for all the 294 Cash Transfer Facilitators (CTFs).
The training representatives were drawn from all the 21 local government areas of the state.
She said over 27,000 beneficiaries were recently added to the existing figure, making it a total of 62, 160 indigent households on their database who would be receiving N10, 000 each from the Federal Government every two months for the household uplifting programme.
She said that the CCT programme which had been in operation in Kogi for three years was put together by the present Administration to address poverty at the household level.
“It is targeted at uplifting the lives of the poorest of the poor and the vulnerable; that is why it is referred to as the household uplifting programme.
“The first major objective is to improve household consumption, improve enrollment and retention in schools.
“To ensure that children from age 0 to five in Kogi have access to quality healthcare, and ensure that the beneficiaries have a sustainable source of livelihood when they exit the programme,’’ the official said.
She said there had been lots of success stories from the CCT beneficiaries across the state, saying the programme had been in operation for three years in the state.
“Beneficiaries have saved money to build houses for themselves, established businesses and empowered themselves through the programme.
“It has been quite impactful and helpful to the beneficiaries; it has uplifted a lot of them from poverty,’’ she said.
Abdulrazaq advised the CTFs to pay rapt attention and listen very well and ensure that they delivered what was expected of them on the field.
The Resource Person, Mr Adams Muhammad, the Enrollment Officer, National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) Abuja, said the step-down training was simply to train the CTFs on information updates of the beneficiaries on the field.
“When the information of enrollment of beneficiaries is updated, it gives them the opportunity to benefit from all the CCT packages.
“At the end of this three-day training, we expect the CTFs to be able to use KoboCollectApplication effectively, which is an application that is used to update the household information,’’ Muhammad said.
Two of the Participants, Mr Abdulsalam Muktar, Desk Officer, Okene Local Government Area, and Mrs Florence Achoba, Desk Officer, Idah Local Government Area, told NAN that they now had a piece of better knowledge on how to effectively update households information.
They commended the Federal and the State Governments for the initiative while urging them to sustain the programme, saying it had lifted many households out of poverty.
“This CCT programme should not die, we want it sustained because it has helped a lot of rural women,’’ Achoba said.
