Minister of Finance and coordinating minister for the Economy Mr Wale Edun has confirmed the resumption of payment to about 19.7 million poor and vulnerable households representing more than 70 million individuals captured in the National Social Register.
Mr Edun who addressed the press Wednesday in his office at the Head Quarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja affirmed the conclusion of the review process of the register and disclosed that the government had electronically disbursed N330 billion through cash transfers to poor and vulnerable Nigerians through the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO).
The minister said “We have just finished a review meeting of the special presidential panel on social investment programs, as you know, was set up in February 2024 by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to get the social protection program that he had in mind to help the poorest and the most vulnerable through the difficulties caused by the increase in the price level, as we all know, as part of the necessary reforms that put in place.”
“We are pleased to report that the social protection program, putting in place a safety net to help people to cope with the rising price level, is now firmly back on track.”
The cash transfers is being funded from an $800 million World Bank facility, are being disbursed to 15 million households.
Mr Edun said 8.5 million households have now been paid at least one tranche of the funds that were promised to them, “25,000 Naira, and they have two more payments to go. Some have received two and some have received three.
He said the system put in place is very robust and requires people are identified biometrically by their national identity number (NIN) and are paid digitally through their bank accounts or their mobile wallets. “The expectation is that the other seven million or so households will be paid by the end of the year.”
He disclosed the government will be budgeting each year to sustain the programme as promised by the President.
On her part, Funmilola Olotu, National Coordinator, National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office explained that beneficiaries received payments in tranches and while some got one, others got as much as three, attributing the discrepancies to the insistence of the president that all beneficiaries should have their NIN linked to the National Social Register.
“So, this NIN integration that we did, we have visited about 7.9 million households, and we have about 10.2 million NINs, of which NIMC has validated about 9.6 million. So, it is these validated NINs that we know, it’s because it’s a direct debit transfer, we pay money into the accounts.”
She further explained that the National Social Register was built in collaboration between the government of Nigeria and the World Bank with more than 40 variables used in identifying the households, insisting that the National Social Register is not a political register.
Olutu said the previous administration had designed that 5,000 Naira be given to beneficiaries for 6 months, but the present administration revised it to 25,000 Naira for 3 months. This action, she said was occasioned by the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira by the government which gave need for the revision so that the households have more money.
This one-off cash transfer will subsequently become the responsibility of the federal government once a line in the national budget for safety nets is provided for.
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