The Federal Government says it has spent more than N600 billion on cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians since President Bola Tinubu assumed office three years ago.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Doro said the programme was designed to provide immediate financial support to poor and vulnerable households and help improve their standard of living.
According to him, slightly more than 10 million households have benefited from the scheme, potentially covering about 40 million people based on an average household size of four.
“We have done over N600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years,” the minister said.
Doro said the government had also expanded its poverty-reduction interventions beyond cash payments, including vocational training for young people and other vulnerable Nigerians.
He disclosed that more than 18,000 people had recently undergone vocational training and received starter kits and stipends to enable them to establish businesses.
The beneficiaries, he added, were also trained in business management and accounting to improve their ability to manage and sustain their enterprises.
The minister said farmers were also being supported through a separate government initiative aimed at improving livelihoods and reducing poverty.
Defending the cash-transfer programme, Doro argued that the impact of the payments should be assessed from the perspective of the beneficiaries rather than by the standards of wealthier Nigerians.
“N25,000 can look very small to elites, but not to the poorest of the poor,” he said.
Doro said his ministry’s responsibility was to ensure that improvements in the wider economy translated into tangible benefits for ordinary Nigerians.
“My job is to translate macroeconomic gains as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. I translate the microeconomic gains to the micro level, and you can see the traction,” he said.
The minister also addressed concerns over the risk of food insecurity in northern Nigeria, following projections that more than 70 million people in nine conflict-affected states could face acute food insecurity.
He, however, stressed that the figure was a projection and should not be interpreted as the number of people who would necessarily experience food insecurity.
Doro said the Federal Government was monitoring developments in the affected states and had recently implemented a presidential intervention focused on food and nutrition across 10 northern states.
He assured that the government would continue to monitor the situation and deploy interventions where necessary to prevent deterioration in food security and protect vulnerable communities.