About 99.9% of targeted poor and vulnerable households are yet to get the Federal Government’s recently launched cash transfer of N25,000 per month.
This is according to data from the World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, during his presentation of the Nigeria Development Update (NDU), December 2023 edition last week in Abuja.
According to his presentation document, the Federal Government plans to make cash transfers to low-income households, paying N25,000 per month for three months.
With $800 million in loan support from the World Bank, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program was launched on October 17, 2023, by President Bola Tinubu.
This program aims to cover 15 million poor, near-poor, and vulnerable households living on less than N75000 per month in Nigeria
However, Sienaert disclosed that “Currently 1.5 million households have received money, and the program is expected to reach 5 million households by the end of December.”
With only 1.5 million households paid out of the targeted 15 million, it means that payment has been made to only 0.1% of the projected households.
This also means that 99.9% of the targets are yet to get their monthly N25,000 cash transfers despite the overwhelming hardship in the country.
The elimination of fuel subsidies and other recent policies have had a disproportionate impact on Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable, who stand to benefit greatly from a monthly cash transfer system that the Federal Government intends to fund with the World Bank loan.
The lack of NIN might have excluded many poor households
