Minister Invited Over N1.1trn Cash Transfer Sharing Formula

House of Representatives has invited the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Beta Edu, to brief lawmakers on the formula adopted to distribute N1.1 trillion conditional cash transfer to 15 million households in Nigeria.

This followed the adoption of motion brought under matters of national importance moved by Hon. Abdulmaruf Adewale Adebayo from Osun State at plenary, yesterday.

Moving the motion, Adebayo said the conditional cash transfer programme is an immediate intervention by the federal government to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy and other economic shocks on vulnerable groups in Nigeria.

He noted that the conditional cash transfer is one of the 15 items in the memorandum of understanding between the federal government and organised labour on October 2, 2023.

According to the lawmaker, 15 million households will be receiving N25,000 each over a period of three months.

“Aware that there has been a lot of unsatisfactory feedback from the ways and manners palliative to vulnerable Nigerians have been handled by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which has not in any way reduced hardship in the land.

“It is pertinent to remind this honourable house about the ugly scenario witnessed during the covid-19 palliative distribution few years ago, where items from international donors meant to cushion the effect of the pandemic were mismanaged.

“Further aware that the World Bank country representatives, Shubham Chaudhuri confirmed that cash transfers are widely applicable to reduce poverty.

“Cognisant that the removal of fuel subsidy necessitated the introduction of various programmes, policies and intervention to alleviate and boost the economics of families and small businesses.

“Also, cognisant that the National Assembly members being closer to the people of Nigeria are meant to represent the interest and concerns of their constituents at the national level, therefore deserved to be fully briefed and carried along in the implementation process,” he stated.

Adebayo expressed worry over growing suspicion of the ways and manners the programme will be implemented.