N600bn Disbursed to 10m Households Under Cash Transfer Scheme — FG

The Federal Government has disbursed more than N600 billion to over 10 million households across Nigeria through its cash transfer programme in the three years since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Doro said the programme was designed to support poor and vulnerable households and improve their living conditions.

He noted that the number of beneficiaries could represent about 40 million people when calculated using an average household size of four.

“We have done over N600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years,” the minister said.

According to Doro, the government has also introduced a vocational skills programme that has trained more than 18,000 people.

He said beneficiaries of the programme received starter kits and stipends, alongside additional training in business management and accounting to help them establish and manage sustainable businesses.

The minister added that the government was supporting farmers through another intervention aimed at improving livelihoods and reducing poverty.

Defending the cash transfer initiative, Doro said the value of the assistance should be considered from the perspective of the poorest households.

He noted that while N25,000 might appear insignificant to wealthy Nigerians, it could make a meaningful difference to vulnerable families struggling with basic needs.

“N25,000 can look very small to elites, but not to the poorest of the poor,” he said.

Doro said his ministry was responsible for ensuring that improvements in the wider economy translated into better living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.

“My job is to translate macroeconomic gains as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction,” he stated.

The minister also disclosed that the government was monitoring the risk of food insecurity in northern Nigeria following projections that more than 70 million people across nine conflict-affected states could face acute food insecurity.

He, however, clarified that the figures represented projections and did not mean that every person identified would necessarily experience acute food insecurity.

Doro said the government had recently implemented a presidential intervention on food and nutrition across 10 northern states.

He assured that the government would continue monitoring the situation and deploy interventions where necessary to protect vulnerable Nigerians from worsening food insecurity.