The diary game || poor and vulnerable households payment;29/10/2021 by @dongatusa
Nigeria is a developing country and many of her citizens are poor and vulnerable. This informs the reason the federal government created a ministry to help her citizen through the offer of stipends.
The project is known as House-hold Uplifting Program, HUP. In the field, we say HUP! HUP!HUP! the beneficiaries will say BETA DON COME!
There are lots of process that lead to todays event but that will be story for another day.
The ministry informed us, that is the Conditional Cash Transfer Facilitators (CTFs) that they will come to pay in our LGA today. Same was communicated to the villagers through their village heads and kings men.
By 7am, all the CTFs are already at the LGA but to our surprise over two thousand people are on ground prior to our coming. It was like a crusade at the stadium .
By 9am the bank people and security operatives brought the money. You need to be here to see how old men and women were behaving like children.
They were told to stay in single lines according to their groups but they keep dragging who will come first. These provoked the officers who nearly beat them up if not that they are aged people.
Finally the payment started,the stipends ranges from five thousand naira to sixty thousand naira depending on when one was enrolled into the program.
As the dragging continued while the payment is going on, come and see fighting, quarrel and push me i push you among them. Because of this the military was invited and they all now calmed down. Many were paid
From the pictures you can see them confirming the money as if it is their money that they went to withdraw from the bank. Just like some girls will visit you and while going you decide to transport them,when you give them money they will drop their hand bag on the table to count and confirm how much you gave them.
Not long the military left,the trouble started again. We keep shouting please keep quite,stay on the line, bring out you ID and payment slip. Despite my shouting until i loss my voice, you will see some of them when it get to their turn they will say, pls sir i forget my ID but if you look at me you will know am the one as if am spirit as to know your the one that bears the name i called without your ID card.
The place became too hot for us when those without ID, those that said their husband is with it,those that said they lost theirs started protesting and causing nuisance. Remember that the security operatives and the military have all gone to other centers to calm situation there as they did in our own center.
The problem continued until we managed to finish the money on hand. By this time greater number have not been paid and is late for the bank people to bring money again due to bad road and security problem.
My life now and that of my colleagues seem to be in their hands. They made it clear to us that if we don't pay them that they will kill us. Their fear is that failure to pay them today that we are going to eat their money. But unknown to them that without the machine government gave us scanning their ID that payment can't be made because it is coded already. We reasoned together and told them to calm down we are going to pay them. We called the Royal Highness, he spoke to them but to no avail.
We hard no other option other than to wait until the security operatives come to our rescue while we keep telling them that the van carrying the money is coming.
When they notice that the operatives came without the money they were very furious . some even said that if they knew that was our plan, they would have beat us blue and black before the military people come back.
I thank God that i and my co-workers left unhurt with a promise to come back next week to pay them. My heart goes out to some elderly people who sustain injuries as they try to compete with much younger people who have no respect for the aged ones.
He is at the hospital now but all this was avoidable if only they hard listened and follow simple instruction.
Thanks to God am back though very much stressed.