The Federal Government says it has disbursed more than N600 billion to vulnerable households through its cash-transfer programme since President Bola Tinubu came into 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 intervention was targeted at poor and vulnerable Nigerians as part of the administration’s efforts to cushion hardship and improve household welfare.
According to him, the programme has so far reached slightly over 10 million households. Based on an average of four persons per household, he said the number of potential beneficiaries could be about 40 million people.
“We have done over N600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years,” the minister said.
Beyond the cash payments, Doro said the Federal Government had introduced vocational training and entrepreneurship support programmes to help beneficiaries develop sustainable sources of income.
He disclosed that more than 18,000 people had recently received vocational training, starter kits and stipends under one of the programmes.
The beneficiaries, he added, were also taught business management and accounting skills to enable them to establish and effectively manage small businesses.
The minister said farmers were similarly being supported through another government initiative aimed at strengthening livelihoods and tackling poverty.
Defending the value of the cash transfers, Doro said the significance of the intervention should be measured against the needs of the poorest Nigerians.
“N25,000 can look very small to elites, but not to the poorest of the poor,” he said.
He said the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction was responsible for ensuring that gains recorded at the macroeconomic level translated into tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
“My job is to translate macroeconomic gains as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. I translate the microeconomic gains to the micro level, and you can see the traction,” Doro said.
On food security, the minister said the government was monitoring projections indicating that more than 70 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states could face acute food insecurity.
He cautioned, however, against treating the projection as a definite forecast, stressing that the figure did not necessarily mean that all those identified would experience food insecurity.
Doro said the government had recently rolled out a presidential intervention on food and nutrition covering 10 northern states as part of efforts to address the risks.
He assured that the Federal Government would continue to monitor food-security conditions and intervene in areas where the situation required additional support.
Leave a Reply