At least 138,015 vulnerable households in Nasarawa State are targeted to benefit from the federal government’s Renewed Hope Cash Transfer programme.

Rhoda Agbawu, the Nasarawa State programme manager of the cash transfer office, said this on Friday in Lafia at the opening of a three-day orientation training for desk officers from the 13 local government areas (LGAs).

Ms Agbawu said the beneficiaries, to be drawn from the state’s 13 LGAs, would receive N25,000 each for three months.

She explained that the programme was a scale-up of the National Social Safety Nets Project that began more than five years ago.

“The exercise was rebranded as the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer Programme to align with the policy agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

“The rebranding came with a lot of improvement where the beneficiaries in the state were increased from 48,624 to 138,015 across all the LGAs as against just six LGAs in the past,” Ms Agbawu added.

The programme manager explained that the office had enrolled 80,000 households out of the total 138,015 beneficiaries before the process was suspended.

She explained the programme was temporarily suspended to enable beneficiaries to open accounts and link their bank verification numbers with their national identity numbers.

“The process for enrolment and payment to the beneficiaries is now digitised to ensure accountability and transparency,” she added.

On the essence of the training, Ms Agbawu said it was to educate the desk officers on the new changes in the programme for proper implementation.

In her goodwill message, Margaret Elayo, Commissioner for Special Duties, Humanitarian, Social Services, and Non-Governmental Organisations, lauded the desk officers and other staff for the success recorded in the programme’s implementation.

Ms Elayo, represented by Fatima Dauda, the ministry’s director of administration, explained that Nasarawa State was rated highly for implementing the National Social Safety Nets Project.

Mohammed Dabo and Ruth Dachi, desk officers of Lafia and Akwanga LGAs, respectively, told journalists that the training would expose them to the new changes in the cash transfer programme.

(NAN).