The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, says it has registered over 1.9 million poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria in the National Beneficiary Register (NBR) under the Household Uplifting Programme-Conditional Cash Transfer (HUP-CCT).
Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, made the disclosure at the closing of a two-day stepdown training on programme orientation and implementation refresher training for Cash Transfer Facilitators held on Saturday in Yola.
The minister who was represented by Hajiya Halima Shehu, National Programme Coordinator, National Cash Transfer Office, said that the training is in preparation for the enrolment of additional 23,134 poor and vulnerable households in the state.
“The National Cash transfer Office, since its inception in 2016, has enrolled over 1.9 million poor and vulnerable households in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The beneficiaries were captured in the National Beneficiary Register (NBR) under the Household Uplifting Programme-Conditional Cash Transfer (HUP-CCT),” Farouq said.
She said the National Cash Transfer Office is an arm of National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs) under her Ministry.
She explained that in order to reduce poverty trend, especially among Women and the vulnerable, the federal government, in 2016 in partnership with the World Bank, initiated the programme with the slogan “Beta Don Come”.
Farouq said that among the core objectives of the Programme was to help move the poor out of poverty in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
She said in the last two months, across the country, the federal government has disbursed the sum of N58 billion to the beneficiaries of the programme as backlog across implementing states and the FCT.
She appreciated the Adamawa government for it continuous support to humanitarian services and specifically to the poor and vulnerable beneficiaries of CCT in the state.
In her remarks, Mrs. Lami Patrick, Commissioner for Women Affairs, Youth and Social Development, said that the programme directly touches the lives of the needy at the grassroots.
She said the selection of the beneficiaries across the state was done appropriately without fear or favour.
“During the selection, there was no interference from government officials or politicians.
“This is the only Programme where politicians are and government officials are out of it. And we thanked the Federal Government for taking this giant stride for identifying with grassroots people into Government activity,” Patrick said
Mrs Mary Yuwadi, the state head of unit of CCT, said that 95 facilitators were trained for the cash transfer Programme in the state and about 70,000 beneficiaries captured in the state.
