BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
Figures from the World Bank have revealed that approximately 99.9% of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria are yet to receive the Federal Government’s recently announced N25, 000 per month cash bonus.
The Federal Government intends to provide cash transfers to low-income households, paying N25, 000 per month for three months, according to a presentation material unveiled last week in Abuja during the Nigeria Development Update, December 2023 edition, by the World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert.
President Bola Tinubu introduced the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme on October 17, 2023, with funding support of $800 million from the World Bank.
This programme intends to assist 15 million Nigerian households that make less than N75,000 per month and are considered poor, near-poor, or vulnerable.
However, Sienaert revealed that the programme is anticipated to reach 5 million households by the end of December, with 1.5 million households having received money thus far.
“Merely 0.1% of the anticipated families have received payment, as only 1.5 million of the targeted 15 million households have been paid for,” the report said.
This indicates that even with the extreme poverty in the country, 99.9% of the targets have not received their monthly N25, 000 cash transfers.
Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately affected by the removal of fuel subsidies and other recent policies, despite the fact that they would substantially gain from a monthly cash transfer system that the Federal Government intends to fund with the World Bank loan.
Less than 1% of the poor and vulnerable individuals may not be eligible for the Federal Government’s cash distribution programme, according to information previously released by the World Bank.
Twenty percent of people possessing a valid national ID number from the National Identity Management Commission were supposed to be registered in the National Social Registry by June 30, 2022.
But as of December 31, 2022, just 0.10 percent of Nigerians listed as completely impoverished and vulnerable possessed a NIN.
This indicates that roughly only 9,670 of the 9.67 million (9,666,420) project beneficiaries are NIN holders.
In his presentation, the World Bank Lead Economist for Nigeria emphasized the part that NIN plays in the cash distribution programme.
“To increase the use and coverage of the national identity number, beneficiaries will be encouraged to enroll for the NIN during the verification process,” he said.
“Merely 0.1% of the anticipated families have received payment, as only 1.5 million of the targeted 15 million households have been paid for.”
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Central Bank of Nigeria recently declared that, as of April 2024, all bank accounts that do not have a BVN and NIN will be set to “Post no Debit.”
Additionally, the apex bank declared that every BVN or NIN linked to and/or connected to accounts or wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.
The CBN claimed that this action is an effort to support national financial stability.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Beta Edu, has said the amount allocated to her ministry in the 2024 budget is not capable of fighting poverty in the country.
The minister stated this on Tuesday when she led officials of her ministry and parastatals under it to defend the 2024 budget before the Joint National Assembly Committee of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, chaired by Senator Idiat Adebule.
Edu said her ministry was given an overhead ceiling of N532.5bn which represents a 28 per cent increase over the 2023 budget to cushion the effects of inflation.
Edu said, “It is pertinent to note that the 28 per cent increase in the overhead ceiling is not commensurate with the 27.33 percent inflation rate in the economy today.
“Conversely, the capital budget ceiling was reduced from N3.7bn in 2022 to N1.328316bn in 2023 and it represents a 71 per cent reduction.
“So, in 2022 and 2023 there was a 71 per cent reduction. However, the pittance capital ceiling of N1.535bn, which is an increase from the current year’s budget, does not in any way match the mandate of the ministry’s headquarters in order to shrink poverty in Nigeria.
“Simply put, there was an over 71 per cent reduction between 2022 and 2023, so the minimal increase between 2023 and 2024 does not in any way match with the mandate that we have been given and what is expected of us.
“At this point, I will plead humbly and sincerely with the chairman, co-chair and members of this great committee that as we look into Nigeria as a nation, the burden lies on us to actually tackle the issue of poverty with sincerity.
“One thing you can take from me and my team working under the guidance of President Bola Tinubu is that he truly wants Nigerians to be out of poverty.
“Except the budget is appropriate for it, we would be completely unable to meet that mandate.
“It will be words that would not be marched with actions. I am happy that you represent constituencies and senatorial zones. A lot is being expected of you from the government in your constituencies to meet their real sincere demands. That is the reason this committee must go beyond board to ensure that the present budget which was given to the ministry and agencies is carefully looked into, reconsidered and something more reasonable and in keeping with the realities on the ground is done.
“The ministry has several special projects which I will not like to mention and we intend to use these special projects as agencies under us to meet the target.”
The minister lamented very bitterly that something very serious was omitted from the budget.
“We plead with this great committee that as you make your submission to the appropriation committee and, of course, furthermore to the final level where the gavel will go down on the 2024 appropriation, we seek that you help us ensure the inclusion of this budget line as well as appropriation for this budget line,” the minister said.
