12,108 beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme in Edo State have received ATM cards preloaded with N100,000 being the backlog of payment of the 20 months owed the beneficiaries.
The State Focal Person of the Social Investment Programme, Osayuwamen Aladeselu, disclosed this in Benin during the handing over of the ATM cards to beneficiaries from Oredo Local government area Benin on behalf of the National Cash Transfer Office and the Edo State Government.
“The backlog payments of 20 months are currently being paid to 12,108 beneficiaries in the six pilot local government areas of Edo State which are Oredo, Ovia South West, Igueben, Esan West, Etsako Central and Owan East. She stated that the delay in payment was due to issues with the previous payment service provider and 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”.
She said the state has updated its social register to have registered 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, lead 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 and the Edo State Governor, His Excellency Governor Godwin Obaseki for supporting the programme and creating an enabling environment for the programme to thrive.
“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).
According to her, 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.
Also speaking the team lead,Unified Payment Services Limited, (the Payment Service Provider for Edo), Mr Emmanuel Abisola, said the ATM cards being issued to the beneficiaries can be used on ATM and POS platforms.
He said the ATM is already preloaded with N100,000 each as backlog payments for each beneficiary, adding that the beneficiaries will be accredited based on the Cash Transfer ID card and captured before the activation of their ATM cards.
Earlier, the Head of State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU), Flora Bossey, said the ATM Card distribution would be distributed to the beneficiaries across the six pilot local government areas.