Federal Government of Nigeria Plans Fresh Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme for 75,000,000 Nigerians

The Federal Government on Tuesday said it had reinstated the suspended national social investment programme, revealing the conditional cash transfer scheme would provide direct payments to 75,000,000 Nigerians in 50,000,000 households to alleviate the suffering of citizens, especially the poor and vulnerable groups and households.

The Federal Government stated that the conditional cash transfer programme was overhauled to combat fraud in the scheme.

The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, announced this at the ministerial sectoral briefing to mark the first year in office of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration in Abuja.

On January 12, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended all the programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme  Agency (NSIPA) for 6 weeks, as part of an investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the National Social Investment Programme  Agency (NSIPA) and the conditional cash transfer scheme.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also suspended Betta Edu as the minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on January 8. Betta Edu’s ministry supervises the operations of the National Social Investment Programme  Agency (NSIPA).

The national social investment programmes affected include the Npower, the conditional cash transfer scheme, the government enterprise and empowerment programme, and the national home-grown school feeding program.

On March 13, the House of Representatives asked the federal government to resume the implementation of the suspended national social investment programmes.

To revamp the national social investment programme, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel, led by Wale Edun to carry out an intensive review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the national social investment programmes.

Giving an update on the steps taken by the committee at the briefing, the finance minister, Wale Edun stated that the government had decided to restart the national social investment programme that is the conditional cash transfer program to provide succour for poor Nigerians.

Wale Edun said, “I am duty-bound to give you an overview of the strategy, policies, and implementation of Mr President's reform programme. Immediately upon assuming office, Mr President launched macroeconomic reforms to restore stability to the Nigerian economy, including subsidy reforms and foreign exchange market reforms. These reforms caused a spike in costs for individuals and businesses, but Mr President is committed to counterbalancing the negative effects with interventions across the social spectrum.

“The government has restarted the social investment program, providing direct payments to 75,000,000 Nigerians in 50,000,000 households. Access to credit has been improved, with ₦1,000,000,000 allocated to consumer credit and grants of ₦50,000 being given to 1,000,000 nano industries.”

Source: https://punchng.com/tinubus-first-anniversary-gift-fg-plans-fresh-cash-transfer-scheme-for-75-million-nigerians/