No fewer than 82,201 people are to benefit from the Renewed Hope conditional cash transfer of the federal ministry of humanitarian and poverty alleviation in Ondo State.

The programme coordinator of Ondo State conditional cash transfer, Tosin Olupona, stated this during a one-day step-down training of local government cash transfer facilitators on Renewed Hope Cash transfer orientation and beneficiary enrolment process in Akure.

Mrs Olupona said that would-be beneficiaries had been registered on the database of the national cash transfer office in Abuja.

She explained that some of the potential beneficiaries would each receive N25,000 every month for a period of three months while some would be paid N10,000 each every month for a period not less than 12 months.

The coordinator said that no fewer than 12,337 people in the state had benefited from the programme since 2019.

Mrs Olupona said that the programme was now being scaled up by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to impact more lives.

According to her, the programme, which has no political nor ethnic colouration, is meant for the positive transformation of the poor and the vulnerable in all 18 local government areas of the state.

She added that the money, when paid, would cushion the effects of economic realities on beneficiaries in the state.

Mrs Olupona noted that the local government facilitators, totalling 142, were being trained to enrol and capture those that were generated from the national cash transfer office register.

“We have received data of 82,201 people from the national cash transfer office. So they will all benefit the moment they are enrolled and captured by these facilitators.

“It’s divided into two categories: Economic shock response beneficiaries will receive N25,000 each for three months, and after that, they will be exited, and other ones will be registered.

“And the extended regular cash transfer beneficiaries will be taking N10,000 each every month for at least a period of one year,” she said.

Mrs Olupona asked the trainees to resolve to internalise what they learn at the training for them to effectively enrol the beneficiaries.

She implored the would-be beneficiaries to judiciously use the money when they receive it.

The coordinator added that the programme had had many success stories of how the money had helped a lot of people to feed themselves and cater for their medical needs.

“I just want to encourage our people. Many beneficiaries receive the money and pretend as if nothing happened.

“This money is meant to better their lives. We do receive success stories of the beneficiaries’ abilities to feed themselves and buy drugs,” Mrs Olupona said.

Speaking with journalists, Esther Omoniyi, one of the trainees, said that the training had equipped her on how to enrol and capture the would-be beneficiaries of the programme.

Similarly, Olufemi Babalola, another trainee, commended the government for considering the poor and vulnerable in its policies, adding that the training had better prepared him to successfully capture people who had registered.

(NAN)