From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Kogi Government has trained local government Facilitators and Grievance Redress Officers (GROs) towards the effective implementation of the Livelihood Support Grant (DLI 1.3) intervention under the state’s COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (KG-CARES).
Hajia Falilat Abdulrasaq, Head of Delivery Platform for Social Transfer and Livelihood Support Grant (DLI 1.1 & 1.3) KG-CARES, told journalists at the weekend in Lokoja, that the training was to sensitise and orientate participants on what is expected of them.
She noted that the livelihood support grant DLI 1.3, is the second DLI that the State Cash Transfer Unit would be implementing.
According to her, the Disbursement Linked Indicator (DLI 1.3) is a grant of N150,000 to be given to an individual member of the household who is agile and productive.
She said the disbursement would be a one-off payment of N150,000 to 570 beneficiaries across the 21 local government areas of the state, to start as soon as the validation and enrollment exercise is completed.
”The DLI 1.3, is a program meant for the productive members of the households identified from the social register, to be given a grant of N150,000 as support to cushion COVID-19 economic hardships.
”The essence of the agility and being productive is to give the money to whoever is still agile andable to run around in doing his/her business or vocational skills.
”The grant is meant for agile and productive youths women, men and the physically challenged,” she said.
She said the facilitators would be trained on the criteria set for accessing the fund, and then go back to the field to validate and enroll the beneficiaries to ensure confirmation of their existence.
She added that the identified beneficiaries would also be trained on records’ keeping, savings and reinvestment in the area of their chosen trade and businesses such as petty trade, artisans, throw pillows, bead making, among others.
She urged the participants to take proper care of the devices that was given to them for enrollment at the field, saying it must be used for the intended purpose which is to capture the data of the beneficiaries
Two of the participants, Aina Adamu and Abdulsalam Muktar, from Ijumu and Okene LGAs respectively, said the training has broaden their knowledge on the program and has exposed them to new inventions.
According to Adamu, the application is practically new and different from the previous application used for cash transfer.
They thanked the federal and state governments for putting the programmes in place to alleviate the sufferings of the poor masses and the vulnerable citizens, and called for its sustenance.
It would be recalled that the facilitators and GROs were also recently trained on the effective implementation of the social transfer (DLI 1.1).
The social transfer is the disbursement of N10, 000 monthly to the aged, critically ill, urban poor and the physically challenged.