The Federal Government has resumed payment of stipends to beneficiaries in Oyo State under the Household Uplifting Programme-Conditional Cash Transfer (HUP-CCT).
The state Cordinator of the programme, Mr Ezekiel Oladipo, said that Oyo was one of the eight states where the programme started in 2016.
Oladipo said that the programme covered 13,830 beneficiary’s households across the 33 local governments of the state.
The programme, he said, has three components.
This, he said, is the base, which is N5,000 per beneficiary’s household monthly, the top-up otherwise classified as co-responsibility – such household gets N10,000.
“The third component which is Livelihood, is yet to start. It is a one-off grant for beneficiary’s household,” he said.
The coordinator said all the beneficiaries will be paid 12 months out of 14 months being owed them by the Federal Government.
He, however, said that the ongoing phase will cover six months payment while the remaining six months will be settled in due course.
On the cash mode payment being witnessed at the disbursement centres, Oladipo said Oyo State is one of the 10 states picked to experiment the digitalisation mode of payment.
He advised the beneficiaries to judiciously make use of the money in a way that would make an impact in their livelihoods.
Some of the beneficiaries commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the poverty intervention programme in an interview with a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
They said that the HUP-CCT was gradually taking them out of abject poverty, there by improving their standard of living.
Septuagenarians, Aulat Adejumobi and Tawakalitu Tajudeen, beneficiaries from Ibadan said their hope of living long on earth had been rekindled as a result of the monthly stipends
Adejumobi said:”I have d been supporting my household financially with the monthly stipends.
”I thank the Federal Government for enlisting me as one of the beneficiaries”.
Tajudeen, a blind woman, who revealed that she had been receiving the stipend since 2016 said it had really assisted her foodstuff business.
In Ona-Ara LG, Madam Iyinola Tumoh, a 70-year-old widow and Afusat Mustapha, 65, said the monthly stipends has helped them in the petty trading they were operating.
They said they will invest the money in their respective businesses as usual, to generate more income.
They implored the Oyo state government to replicate such programme so as to further reduce poverty in the society.
NAN reports that the CCT programme aims to reduce poverty by making welfare programmes conditional upon the receivers’ actions.
The federal government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria.
The CCTs seek to help the current generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next through the development of human capital.
NAN also reports that each household on the first component, received N30,000 while those on the ”Top-up”, went home with N60,000.(NAN)