About 230,411 households are expected to receive the federal government’s N25,000 monthly as a palliative for fuel subsidy removal in Kogi.

The national enrollment manager of the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), Sadiya Abdullahi, said this during the enrollment for targeted beneficiaries on Thursday in Lokoja.

She said the programme, tagged ‘Renewed Hope Initiative Intervention’, was leveraging the National Social Safety Net project structure. She said this would enable Mr Tinubu to fulfil his promise of cushioning the economic shock of fuel subsidy removal.

“Over 15 million households across the country will benefit from the N25,000 monthly disbursement for three months in the first phase,” she said.

Ms Abdullahi said the beneficiaries were sourced from the verified National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office.

“In Nigeria, a total number of 15 million will be supported through one primary recipient per household. In Kogi, we have a total of 230,411 beneficiaries for the first phase of the intervention, which is one-third of the total number of beneficiaries to be captured.

“This activity is a transparency and accountability process; you can see we have displayed the list of beneficiaries, both banked and unbanked, so as to enrol them for payment. The system is fully digital, and the unbanked beneficiaries are supported to have bank accounts for financial inclusion,” Ms Abdullahi said.

Also speaking, Bridget James, the head of operation at Kogi Cash Transfer Unit, said the exercise was meant to display the list of beneficiaries and proceed with their data capturing.

“Most of the beneficiaries are unbanked, that is why we are capturing them to get their details so long their names are on the National Social Register (NSR). The capturing of their details would, in turn, qualify them to partake of the N25,000 monthly for three months to cushion the adverse effects of fuel subsidy removal,” she said.

Ms James said the exercise would capture over 171,000 new beneficiaries and about 74,000 existing households who had already benefited from the monthly N5,000 cash transfer of N5,000 since 2016 in the state.

“So in all, over 230,000 households will benefit in the first phase of the Renewed Hope intervention program by the federal government in Kogi,” she said.

Ms James said over 14,000 households would benefit from Lokoja LGA, adding that enrollment was simultaneous across the 21 LGAs. She advised the beneficiaries to be patient and calm as enough staff were on the ground to capture them without wasting time.

Some beneficiaries commended the federal government for alleviating the hardships they experienced due to fuel subsidy removal.

A 75-year-old woman, Hawal Bala, stated, “We appreciate President Tinubu, God will bless him.”

James Friday of Maigari Palace, Lokoja, said he had been living in terrible hardships due to subsidy removal, saying the intervention would be a relief.

“We are so happy because we don’t expect that such a thing will come even though we have been hearing it, but we have seen its reality,” stated Mr Friday. “We thanked President Tinubu for keeping to his promises. By the special grace of God, we will use the money judiciously.”

(NAN)