The Ogun State Government has commenced registration of small business owners, petty traders, low wage employees and artisans as would-be beneficiaries of the COVID-19 cash transfer social intervention programme of the Federal Government, under the ‘The Rapid Response Register (RRR).

Coordinator, Ogun State Operations Coordinating Unit (Ogun SOCU), Mr. Tunde Adebiyi made the revelation on a personality-interview radio programme in Abeokuta, noting that the targeted beneficiaries were considered based on the need to improve their source of livelihood, due to the adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Adebiyi pointed out that RRR was designed by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, to capture about one million households across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, with focus on urban and semi-urban areas.

He explained that 33 wards in 14 Local Government Areas, which include Abeokuta North, Ewekoro, Odeda, Odogbolu, Yewa North, among others had been selected in Ogun State, with the use of Geographical Satellite Remote Sensing Technology, adding that beneficiaries would be given a cash transfer intervention for the period of six months.

The State Coordinator said text messages with Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code would be sent to targeted areas where recipients are expected to answer few questions and reply through the code, emphasising that the registration is free and warned applicants to be wary of fraudsters who may be asking for their account details or redirecting them to a website during registration.