EdoCare: Protecting People While ESURI Builds the State

EdoCare will provide a health support pathway through an EdoCare Health Card, giving priority access to primary healthcare, basic medicines, maternal care, child immunisation, emergency treatment, blood pressure checks, diabetes screening and chronic illness follow-up. The first beneficiaries should include children under five, pregnant women, elderly residents, people with disabilities and the poorest households.

EdoCare will create structured food support instead of occasional political handouts. It should include food vouchers, subsidised staple foods, school feeding, community food banks, cold storage links, and farmer-to-market supply chains connected to the International Farmers Market and LGA food hubs.

EdoCare will support children in the poorest households through modest child benefit assistance tied to school attendance, immunisation, birth registration and basic health checks. The aim is to reduce child poverty, street hawking, preventable illness and school dropout.

EdoCare will reduce the burden on poor families by supporting school materials, rural school transport, digital learning centres, scholarships for bright poor students, technical education grants, school meal support and dignity support for girls in public schools.

EdoCare will support vulnerable families through low-cost housing pathways, rent assistance in verified hardship cases, worker housing near employment zones, emergency shelter, and housing protection for widows, elderly people and disabled residents living in unsafe conditions.

EdoCare will make movement more affordable for students, elderly residents, disabled citizens, low-income workers, traders and market women. Subsidised public transport should connect homes, schools, hospitals, markets, farms, transport hubs and industrial zones so people can work, trade and access services.

EdoCare will provide dignity for elderly residents without stable income through monthly support, free basic healthcare, priority hospital service, community care visits, subsidised transport and emergency assistance. The elderly should not be abandoned because they have no income or family support.

EdoCare will establish a disability register and provide mobility aids, free basic healthcare, inclusive education support, accessible public buildings, skills training, job placement and protection against discrimination. Every ESURI public facility should be designed with accessibility in mind.

EdoCare will connect welfare to opportunity through skills training, apprenticeships, small business grants, cooperative loans, public works jobs, women trader support, artisan equipment grants and youth enterprise support. The purpose is not dependency, but a route from hardship to productivity.

EdoCare will create a verified emergency welfare fund for sickness, fire, flood, accident, temporary accommodation, domestic violence refuge, abandoned children and sudden family crisis. Local welfare desks in each LGA should help verify cases quickly and direct support to genuine need.

Each of the 18 LGAs should have an EdoCare welfare desk linked to the central EdoCare database. These offices will register residents, verify vulnerability, receive complaints, coordinate local support and ensure that welfare delivery reaches communities beyond Benin City.

EdoCare must be protected from political abuse. Beneficiaries should be digitally registered, locally verified, needs-based and paid directly where cash support is required. The system should include audit trails, appeal channels, annual public reporting and anti-fraud controls.