Tinubu Government Claims It Disbursed N600billion Cash Transfers To 9million Nigerian Households | Sahara Reporters

The minister, however, said the government had not established how many beneficiaries had been lifted out of poverty as a direct result of the cash transfer programme because updated data was not yet available.

The President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government has claimed it has disbursed more than N600billion in cash transfers to nine million households in Nigeria to cushion the impact of economic hardship following the removal of the fuel subsidy.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, made this claim.

Doro disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television, adding that the payments were made in three tranches as part of government measures to support vulnerable Nigerians affected by the economic shocks triggered by the subsidy removal.

“Over N600 billion in cash transfers has been done in three tranches, and that has made significant impact. We have reached slightly over nine million households, about 10 million households,” Doro said.

The minister, however, said the government had not established how many beneficiaries had been lifted out of poverty as a direct result of the cash transfer programme because updated data was not yet available.

Doro said the government was relying on the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index, which measures poverty using factors including income, access to healthcare and education. He added that a fresh assessment was being commissioned to determine the current poverty situation and measure the impact of government interventions.

“I won’t give you a figure if we have not already reviewed what is going on. We will do this review and once we do that review, we will be able to share the numbers,” he said.

The minister also announced plans to reform the country’s social protection system through the One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response System. According to him, the initiative will coordinate poverty reduction and humanitarian programmes across the federal, state and local governments and improve cooperation with development partners.

Doro said the system would rely on the Unified National Social Registry to identify poor and vulnerable Nigerians, connect them with suitable government support programmes and monitor their progress until they become self-sufficient.

“We want to avoid duplication and inefficiencies. We want to make sure that every naira that we invest is actually going directly to the last mile,” he said.

The minister further disclosed that more than 18,000 Nigerians had received vocational training, starter kits, stipends and business management skills under other government interventions aimed at helping beneficiaries establish sustainable businesses.

He also defended the government’s economic reforms, including the removal of the fuel subsidy and foreign exchange reforms, saying they had helped stabilise the economy. Doro said inflation had fallen from slightly above 34 per cent at its peak to about 15 per cent based on recent figures.

“We are actually driving down inflation, and that translates to increase in purchasing power,” he said.

Doro acknowledged that reducing poverty would take time and said the government would continue to provide cash transfers and other interventions when necessary to support poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

He also said the ministry was willing to subject the cash transfer programme to a comprehensive and transparent impact assessment to determine its effectiveness.

The cash transfer programme was introduced as part of the Federal Government’s response to the economic difficulties that followed the removal of the petrol subsidy. The government is now working to assess the impact of the intervention while developing a broader social protection system for vulnerable Nigerians.