The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that two million people will receive almost N20 billion in basic and conditional cash transfers under the National Cash Transfer Program starting in June this year.
According to reports, the Federal Government will pay each of the two million persons N5,000 as a basic cash transfer and another N5,000 as a conditional cash transfer. This means the government will spend N20 billion on the recipients.
The number of people receiving cash transfers from the government has been increasing, according to a March 2022 document on the strategic roadmap and activities of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
The report also reveals that the National Cash Transfer Programme covered 1.6 million people in 19 states in 2018, 24 states in 2019, and 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2022, covering a total of 1.6 million people.
However, Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, warned in the document that the number would rise even more in June. The Federal Government provides cash assistance to disadvantaged and vulnerable households regularly through the cash transfer program.
“By June 2022 we would be paying two million people N5,000 basic cash transfer and an additional N5,000 on conditional cash transfers, which is conditioned on good health-seeking/behavior, school retention, and good water and hygiene conditions in their environment/homes,” Farouq stated.
She added that the ministry created and tested the Rapid Response Register, a shock-responsive social register, to catch urban poor informal workers who were daily wage earners operating in towns and cities who were hit by the COVID-19 shutdown.
The minister said;
“To date, of this one million targeted by the government, we have been able to pay the sum of N5000 to 850,000 beneficiaries digitally through the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System, where each account is carefully validated by the system before payment.
“150,000 will be paid by the end of April 2022. Each of these beneficiaries is receiving six months of cash support.”
According to the ministry, as of 2022, 46 million people in 36 states and the FCT, living in 11 million households, had been registered under the National Social Register.
According to the ministry, the N-Power volunteer scheme provided temporary employment opportunities for 498,602 graduates in Batches A and B, as well as 450,000 graduates in Batch C Stream 1.
It went on to say that 390,000 more people were being enrolled in Batch C Stream 2 and that the president had given his approval to enroll an additional one million people.
The document further revealed that between January 1 and March 25, 2022, 174 of the 1,850 mobile agents trained, kitted, and registered with the Central Bank of Nigeria – Shared Agents Network Expansion Facility for agency banking achieved a transaction volume of over N657 million.
“The top 10 mobile money agents executed transactions totaling N300,095,545.06 and earned N1,852,499.00 between January and March 25, 2022,” the ministry stated.
According to the research, the National Home-Grown School Feeding Program feeds 9.8 million students every day, with 127,000 cooks employed and 98 aggregators producing various protein products.
The National Social Investment Program’s school feeding program is one of four clusters that aim to deliver one free daily meal to students enrolled in the program.
The NHGSFP is intended to be a partnership between the federal and state governments. The release of funding, rules, procedures and monitoring are all the responsibility of the federal government.
The state is in charges of day-to-day operations, such as food procurement and the hiring of cooks and vendors to prepare, cook, and serve the meals to the students.
