Conditional Cash Transfer Initiative and Poverty Alleviation in Egor Lga, Edo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT
Poverty remains a persistent challenge in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where limited access to economic opportunities, social services, and basic infrastructure continues to hinder development. Egor Local Government Area (LGA) in Edo State, Nigeria, is no exception, as a significant portion of its population faces financial hardship, inadequate healthcare, and low educational attainment. In response to these socio-economic challenges, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) initiative has been introduced as a poverty alleviation strategy aimed at improving the living standards of vulnerable populations by providing direct financial assistance tied to specific behavioral conditions, such as school enrollment, healthcare visits, and skill acquisition. The objectives of the study are; to analyze the extent of reduction in poverty levels among households in Egor LGA, to ascertain how the CCT program affects beneficiaries' access to and use of medical services and to evaluate the level of awareness of the CCT initiative by the residents of Egor LGA. The population of study consist of the total number of individuals that lives in Egor Local Government Area of which according to the National Population Commission (2022) Egor local government stands at 502,700 as estimated. With simple random technique the study selected five categories of respondents in the local government. These respondents’ categories are; farmers, traders; unemployed; self-employed and others which amounted to a sample size of 400 according to the Taro Yamene formular. The instrument used for the collection of data was the questionnaire which was administered to the study sampled respondents. Out of the 415 questionnaires distributed to the study sampled respondents, only 351 were retrieved by the researcher thus, changing the study analysis total sample to 351, which has 84.6% retrieval rate. The data collected was analyzed using simple percentage. The study found out that the beneficiaries’ household nutrition has improved as a result of the cash transfers. Furthermore, the study discovered that CCT has improved beneficiaries’ access to healthcare facilities.