Fuel Subsidy Removal Palliatives: 230,411 households benefit in Kogi

By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.

No fewer than 230,411 households in Kogi State are expected to receive the Federal Government N25,000 monthly payment as palliative for Fuel Subsidy Removal under the first phase of the intervention.

Hajia Sadiya Abdullahi, National Enrollment Manager, National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen during the beneficiaries Enrollment exercise on Thursday in Lokoja.

Hajia Sadiya noted that the programme, tagged: “Renewed Hope Initiative Intervention” by the Federal Government was leveraging on the National Social Safety Net project structure to deliver its promise to Nigeria to cushion the economy shock of fuel subsidy removal.

The Enrollment Manager said that over 15 million households across the country would benefit from the N25,000 monthly disbursement for three months in the first phase.

She explained that the beneficiaries were sourced from the verified National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO).

“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 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,” she said.

Also speaking, Mrs Bridget Okpanachi James, Head of Operation, Kogi State Cash Transfer Unit, said the exercise was meant to display the list of successful beneficiaries and proceed with their data capturing.

She said that most of the beneficiaries were unbanked (without bank accounts) and “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 will inturn qualify them to partake of the N25,000 monthly for three months to cushion the adverse effects of fuel subsidy removal,” she said

Okpanachi said the exercise would capture over 171,000 new beneficiaries in addition to about 74,000 households who were already benefiting from the Cash Transfer of N5,000 monthly disbursement since 2016 in Kogi.

“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 State.

“This enrollment exercise is going on simultaneously across the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State”, Okpanachi said.

She noted that over 14,000 households would benefit in Lokoja Local Government Area and advised the beneficiaries to be patient and calm as there were enough staff on ground to capture them without waste of time. (Ends)