The re-enrolment, according to Management Information Specialist (MIS) Officer, NCTO, Abuja, Mr Aliyu Adam, aimed at fishing out wrong targets, that is, those are not truly poorest of the poor and vulnerable.
Aliyu made this disclosure over the course of a two-day training for Management Information Specialists, Cash Transfer Facilitators, Head of Units in Oyo, Kwara, Osun and Ekiti states, on enrolment for conditional cash transfer, which ended on Tuesday, in Oyo town, Oyo state.
He explained that re-enrollment would be carried out through the adoption of automated processes targeted at centralising the database, eradicating double targeting and correcting anomalies in the beneficiaries’ list hitherto compiled by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO).
Aliyu, however, added that beyond fishing out wrong targets, the new processes will serve as an opportunity to enrol additional beneficiaries onto its central database.
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Consequently, he tasked the Cash Transfer Facilitators to visit communities to ensure that only the poorest households and vulnerable, especially females, benefit from the programme while avoiding irregular capturing of targeted beneficiaries.
“Our database is polluted so you the Cash Transfer Facilitators must fish out those civil servants, minors and others who are actually not poor and vulnerable. Civil servants, minors are not meant to be part of the beneficiaries as this will amount to double targeting. You must ensure that those who are on our database are truly poor and vulnerable.
“You must be wary of irregular capturing which could deny your communities of the cash transfer opportunity. Also, this is another level of enrolment as there are some states already benefiting, while there may be some additional beneficiaries from state and local government,” Aliyu said.
In relation to Oyo State, Head of Unit of the State Cash Transfer Office, Mr Oladipo Ezekiel said, owing to poor targeting, the number of beneficiaries in the state had been reduced from 14,447 to 5,728, for the first batch.
He pointed to discoveries of underage children being enlisted as beneficiaries in some parts of the state, adding that the Cash Transfer Facilitators were empowered to expunge wrong targets.
Oladipo added that much of the N10,000 bi-monthly stipend to be given to the next set of cash transfer beneficiaries is expected to be drawn from the recovered $322 million Abacha loot.
“These beneficiaries we are targeting for re-enrolment are not new. They have been collecting since the beginning of the programme. But, at a time, the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) in Abuja discovered that most of the beneficiaries are not the targeted ones.
“We observed that we have poor targeting. The programme targets the poorest households and vulnerable people. It is now discovered that the majority of the people taking the money are not poor. So, the real poor people are being denied the opportunity. They now asked us to go back to our states and communities to re-enrol the poorest households and vulnerable people.
“The number of beneficiaries is reduced from 14, 447 to 5,728. We got to a community in the Oke Ogun area of the state and discovered underage children been enlisted as beneficiaries and they were removed. If discovered, the Cash Transfer Facilitators have a right to remove.
“This is not that 5,728 will be the last batch of beneficiaries, the re-enrolment will be phased and in two weeks, another data of beneficiaries will be released. Those ones will be recaptured,” Oladipo said.
Some of the participants such as Mrs Abiodun Kuyoro and Mr Oluseyitan Nureni said they were aware of the World Bank/Federal Government criteria for identifying the poorest households and vulnerable such as looking out for those families who could not afford tuition fees for their wards, those pregnant women who could not attend antenatally and those who are bedridden.
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