FG Warns Cash Transfer Facilitators Against Extortion 1
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FG Warns Cash Transfer Facilitators Against Extortion

Federal government on Tuesday warned facilitators of its conditional cash transfer programme to be transparent and desist from extorting beneficiaries at the grassroots level to allow them get exactly what was meant for them.

The National training officer of National transfer unit program, Kola Solomon made this warning in Enugu during a 5 day training of trainers on savings and group mobilization for local government cash transfer facilitators.

Kola, who urged the facilitators not to use the opportunity to be asking beneficiaries for money, disclosed that the federal ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development initiated the programme to lift the poor out of poverty, adding that they care about the poor people and their well being.

“This is a federal government project and they are partnering with state government counterpart fund sponsored by the World Bank.

“I was admonishing them to ensure that they do the right thing, so that when they go to the grassroots, they will not be extorting the beneficiaries. They should not use this opportunity to start asking the beneficiaries to contribute money to them in any form because the programme is about lifting the poor out of poverty.

“We care about the poor people and their well being. I was admonishing them to be transparent and not to partner with people that have corrupt mind, so that the beneficiaries will receive the amount they were supposed to receive which is N10,000 every two months”, He advised.

He disclosed that they are training the facilitators selected from different local government in the state on savings and group mobilization which would later step it down to ward level to allow the beneficiaries opportunity to collectively contribute money as a cooperative and start up a business as the money given to them would not be enough to start business individually.

He urged facilitators to adopt adult learning principles in guiding the beneficiaries at the grassroots to create a learning environment that will encourage them to learn how to save and work as a group.

“This training in the essence is to build the capacity of facilitators, so that when they go back to the grassroots will be able to educate the beneficiaries to form group and habit of saving to begin acquiring small small things through micro business to enable them care for themselves and obtained livelihood”, He disclosed.

Earlier, Head of operations, Enugu State Cash Transfer Units, LSM, Uzoma Collins Enedu, commended the federal government and state government for empowering the poor and vulnerable.

Enedu, while lamenting the delay in capturing the poor masses by State Operations Coordinating Unit, LOCU, and vulnerable in the state urged state government to intervene to allow the long awaited vulnerable get what was meant for them in due time.

“We are having challenges of security because of delay in disbursing the fund to the poor. Some times, when they see us they will come with force to collect money but thank God we don’t handle money. We are about to start disbursing cash to our beneficiaries because LOCU has not completed data collection.

“Other state beneficiaries have started receiving their own. I am appealing to the state government to intervene, so that the beneficiaries who have been waiting since January to start getting their empowerment fund like other states”, she said.

One of the participants, Mr Damian Ugwu who expressed satisfaction on the training, commended the federal government, State government and the trainer for the training.

He disclosed that what they learnt today would lift the beneficiaries at the ward level out of poverty level and start earning a livelihood.

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