Cash Transfer

The Cash Transfer also known as the Community Cash Transfer Programme (CCT) is one of the social safety nets programmes anchored by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Conditional Cash Transfer Programme commenced in September, 2016. The Conditional Cash Transfer was conceived as part of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s (FGN) larger growth and social inclusion strategies aimed at addressing key social concerns in the country.

The Conditional Cash Transfer is a component of National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP) which is supported by the World Bank, to provide financial support to targeted poor and vulnerable Nigerian households.

The Conditional Cash Transfer programme is focused on responding to deficiencies in capacity and lack of investment in human capital, especially amongst our poorest citizens. Beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer programme are mined from the National Social Register (NSR), comprising State Social Registers (SR) of poor and vulnerable households. The Social Registers (SRs) are being developed with the training, supervision and guidance from the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office in Abuja.

The Conditional Cash Transfer programme is designed to deliver timely and accessible cash transfers to beneficiary households and sets to support development objectives and priorities, to achieve specific outcomes as outlined below:

1) Improve household consumption.

2) Increase in utilization of health and nutrition services.

3) Improve school enrolment and attendance.

4) Improve environmental sanitation and management.

5) Encourage household financial and asset acquisition.

6) Engage beneficiaries in sustainable livelihood.

The Conditional Cash Transfer programme has three components which are as follows:

1) Base Cash Transfer: This provides targeted monthly base cash transfer of ₦25,000 for three months making a total of ₦75,000 to the eligible mined from the National Social Register (NSR). The Cash transfer is to help improve their consumption levels and to encourage them to develop savings skills. The overall objective is aimed at reducing poverty, preventing the vulnerable households from becoming poorer and building their ability to be better than what they were before they started benefiting from the conditional cash transfer programme.

2) Top-Up based on State selected conditions: The top-up cash transfer is an additional ₦25,000 made available to some poor and vulnerable households. Beneficiaries who qualify for the top-up cash transfer are required to participate in at least one of the activities that contributes to their human capital development and to a sustainable environment. Beneficiaries are expected to adhere to the specified conditions attached to the top-up transfer. These conditions are referred to as “co-responsibilities”. The co-responsibilities are associated to education, environment, health, and nutrition. Each state is expected to pick at least one co-responsibility that reflects the state’s deficiency in the specified areas. The objectives of the top-up cash transfer include the following:

A) Education: Increase children school enrolment/attendance

B) Environment: Address environmental hazards to improve productive assets

C) Health: Improve utilization of health facilities for ante-natal care, post-natal care, and child immunization

D) Nutrition: Improve child nutrition

3) Livelihood Support: The livelihood support activities facilitate graduation of beneficiaries out of poverty, thereby making them financially independent. Livelihood support aims at complementing the cash transfer to help targeted households to build a mind-set of enterprise development in order to reduce abject poverty in communities and create opportunities for work both on-farm and off-farm especially among women and youth. The livelihood component of the conditional cash programme is fundamentally focused at enabling beneficiaries to establish a sustainable means of livelihood. A number of beneficiaries have made remarkable progress in their individual lives and households. A lot of the beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) are engaged in productive business activities for self-reliance. Some of them are engage in animal husbandry, petty trading, services such as dressmaking, grinding of grains and other necessary service at the communities which was the preserve of a few persons.

National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO)

The National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) through the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme provides support for poor and vulnerable citizens through targeted cash transfers, capacity building, and coaching and mentoring and livelihood support.

Overall Management Responsibilities for National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO)

The National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) provides the following duties below: 

1) Provide technical support and stakeholder engagement.

2) Facilitate beneficiaries’ enrolment and issue conditional cash transfer programme card to beneficiaries.

3) Support capacity building of states and LGAs to deliver training and sensitization by developing training materials and training of trainers.

4) Integrate the Payment Service Providers (PSPs) into the systems developed under NASSP (these are the NSR, MIS, and financial management (FM) systems).

5).Provide effective coordination for the payment system.

6) Provide technical and financial support to State Cash Transfer Units (SCTUs) and Local Government Areas (LGAs) to carry out their responsibilities.

7).Conduct performance assessment, review and reporting.

8) Liaise with Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) and Civil Societies Organizations to support delivery.

9) Provide framework for the co-responsibilities for state selection.

10) Facilitate beneficiaries training, coaching and mentoring.

11) Monitor the progress of activities at state levels to ensure conformity to plans and standards.

12) Provide grievance redress hub and ensure that grievances emerging from states are investigated and addressed.

13) Establish and implement system to minimize fraud, error and corruption.

14) Engage and supervise payment service providers.

15) Disburse Cash Transfers to beneficiaries.

While the National Cash Transfer Office's (NCTO’s) mandate is to deliver the targeted cash transfer across the country, the actual implementation happens at the state level through the State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU). SCTU manages and coordinates the targeted cash transfer and livelihood intervention. Each local government area establishes a cash transfer team to implement activities at the community level.

Source: https://nassp.gov.ng/national-cash-transfer-programme/