Edo Government says no fewer than 102,650 persons across 1,969 communities in the 18 local government areas of the state will benefit from the second phase of the federal government’s Renewed Hope Cash Transfer (RHCT) programme.

Yuwa Aladeselu, general manager, Social Investment Programme (SIP) in the state, disclosed this on Wednesday at a one-day refresher training for local government cash transfer facilitators in Benin.

Ms Aladeselu said the federal government’s RHCT programme was being implemented under the National Social Safety Nets Project Scale Up (NASSP-SU).

She said that Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo was always ready to key into any profitable intervention programme that would provide succour for the poor and vulnerable in the state.

The general manager, who said that Edo state had a social register of over 1.6 million persons, added that about 314,000 households had been captured in the register.

According to her, these will include persons living with disabilities, among others.

In her remarks, Flora Bossey, head of unit, Edo State cash transfer, recalled that over 12,108 beneficiaries were enrolled and paid during the first phase of the implementation of the programme in the state in 2022.

She said the cash transfer was being implemented in line with the vision of the federal government to provide support for over 15 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians under the Expanded National Social Safety Nets Programme Scale-Up.

She said that the Expanded National Social Safety Nets Programme Scale-Up was designed to support new beneficiaries for Economic Shock Response Cash Transfer in Urban areas.

Ms Bossey added that the programmes included extended regular cash transfers in rural areas across the country.

According to her, the programme is for the existing cash transfer beneficiaries who are yet to reach 12 cycles of payment to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy.

Also speaking, Mohammed Adams, enrollment officer at the national cash transfer office, said the training was to ensure that the facilitators rightly capture the biodata of the 101,404 registered persons.

Mr Adams said that the training was to properly enrol registered persons to receive the renewed hope cash transfer.

According to him, the payment delivery mechanism will ensure that payment is delivered to the eligible beneficiaries directly into their accounts and wallets at the right time.

“All beneficiaries will receive their funds directly through interoperable transactional accounts/wallets, thus, leading to significant financial inclusion of the beneficiaries.

“We all know that times are hard; this intervention is to deliver support to those who need it most,” he said.

(NAN)