The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, has announced that the Federal Government is gearing up to launch a conditional cash transfer policy for 15 million households in Nigeria on October 17, 2023.
She made this declaration during her appearance on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics” program, several months after the Federal Government ceased the payment of petroleum subsidies.
The minister expressed optimism about receiving approval from the President for the initiative during the current week.
She revealed, “With the approval from the President which we hope to get this week, on the 17th of October, we will be officially launching the conditional cash transfer to 15m households in Nigeria.”
Edu elaborated on the ministry’s efforts to collaborate with stakeholders nationwide in order to establish a credible register of beneficiaries.
She emphasized the importance of ensuring that those on the national social register genuinely qualify, falling within the income bracket of under $1.95 per day.
Edu acknowledged that some individuals on the register may have either passed away or experienced improvements in their economic status.
As a result, she stated that a verification exercise is underway to clean up the register and ensure its accuracy.
“To achieve this, we are currently conducting fieldwork to clean up the data and perform a thorough verification. We are cross-referencing data such as the BVN and NIM to verify the authenticity of these individuals,” Edu explained.
She also mentioned the inclusion of biometrics and the capturing of household heads and their respective household pictures, along with a numbering system for easy verification against the register.