The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu has stated the Federal government’s plan to commence a new cash transfer program to 15 million households by October.
She disclosed this during an interview on AriseTv on the Progress Report on Nigeria’s participation at the 78th United Nations General Assembly meeting.
While responding to questions on the FG’s presence at the UNGA 78 and what it means for the Nigerians, she said,
- “We had meetings with the World Bank and very soon we will announce the upscale of the national safety net program which will be putting funds in the pocket of over 15 million households in Nigeria and these are tangible funds that people can use to start businesses and improve their lives. This will be happening next month October.”
FG to partner with state government and communities in verification of social register
She further noted that the Federal government will partner with the state government and local communities in the verification of the national social register.
She said it was geared towards ensuring that those in the current social register are still in that social category.
In her words,
- “I’m sure you know very well that we have sent out a team and are in engagement with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) just to verify the national social register working with the states and local communities and we are going to expand it.”
- “Right now, we have 15.7 million households which amounts to about 62 million persons under the national social register. We want to verify if they are still in that social bracket to know if they still deserve such interventions.”
- “The President has approved the verification and expansion of the national social register to cover everybody in that bracket.”
International partners in the FG’s intervention project
Speaking further she highlighted the UN agencies the Federal government intends to partner with for the program.
These agencies she mentioned include the World Food Program (WFP), and government security agencies amongst others.
Other humanitarian interventions of the FG
She noted that the Ministry will announce the full rundown of the President’s approval of the national safety net program.
These initiatives in the program include building shelters for displaced persons, homegrown school feeding, provision of money for startups, and loans for MSMEs.
