NEWS:FG Spent N37.5 Million On Poor Benue Citizens.

The Federal Government has so far spent a whooping sum of N37.5 million on 938 extremely poor and vulnerable persons in Benue state.This was revealed today by Mary Igwe, an official with the State Unit of the Cash Transfer Office during a training programme for cash transfer facilitators in Makurdi.

She explained that each beneficiary received N10, 000 every two months.The training has as its theme, “Enrollment of Cash Transfer Beneficiaries using New Mobile Application”.

“The State Cash Transfer Unit has received a list of 4,832 names from the National Cash Transfer office drawn from the National Social Insurance registry for the purpose of re-enrollment using the newly acquired application.

“The application is intended to automate data captured in the field while minimizing data acquisition related problems”, Igwe said.

Also speaking at the event, the National Coordinator, Cash Transfer Office, Dr Timitope Sinkaye, commended the Benue Government for implementing the four components of the Social Insurance Programme which includes: School feeding, N-Power, G-Power and the Cash Transfer programmes.

It was reported that the programs were part of the social intervention program of President Muhammadu Buhari to alleviate poverty in the country by targeting the poorest of the poor.

The Coordinator also called on the state government to assist the facilitators with motorcycles to enable them cover rural areas, as the social insurance program was the most important aspect of the SIP.

“It is in the forefront of the scheme of President Buhari’s efforts in tackling poverty across the state by uplifting the most vulnerable out of the poverty bracket within a time frame, ” she added.

Sinkaye said identification of vulnerable poor in communities across the country was ongoing, adding that “as more people are discovered, more beneficiaries will be captured”.

Sinkaye explained that the program was not just about cash transfers but also about building the capacities of beneficiaries to transform their lives.

The coordinator, however, lamented that the program was encumbered by challenges, especially in the area of electronic cash transfer to beneficiaries.

“The commonest challenges we have are poor internet connectivity, lack of banking infrastructure and mobile money agents in rural areas.”