The Federal Government on Thursday unveiled plans to cover no fewer than 15 million households across the country under its updated Social Safety Net Project tagged Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT).
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu disclosed this during a meeting with the World Bank Country Director, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri at the World Bank’s headquarters in Abuja.
The Minister expressed gratitude to the World Bank Country Director for the continuous support extended to Nigeria, especially in the areas of education, health, agriculture, private sector development, and social services, among others.
Dr. Edu explained that the ‘Renewed Hope agenda’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led to the renaming of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to directly focus on the people and lift them out of poverty.
“The flexibility of the World Bank to accommodate the re-focused agenda of the Ministry to eliminate poverty is a welcome development.
“The Ministry is preparing to host the Humanitarian Dialogue as well as the creation of the Renewed Hope Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund (HPATF).
“The Trust Fund is expected to come from Federal Government budgetary provision and allocation, Development partners, international community, taxes, private sector contribution among others.
“The Ministry need the support of World Bank to verify and expand the National Social Register (NSR) and offer your technical support in order to work with the Ministry to achieve Mr. President’s target” she stated.
In his remarks, the World Bank Country Director, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, pledged to provide all the needed support for the new Minister to deliver on the new focus of the Ministry.
He disclosed that the “proposed disbursement of $800 million for the Social Safety Nets Project will commence soonest.
“We will support the verification and scaling up of the National Social Register, provide technical support in the preparation of the Ministry to attend UNGA and give specialized backing for the establishment of the Trust Fund.”
In a related development, Dr. Edu who spoke during an interactive session with Humanitarian Correspondents led by Comrade Kehinde Akintola, in Abuja, solicited the support of Humanitarian Correspondents in achieving the set goals, starting with noted that the proposed cash transfer to 15 million households which represents the average of 5.7 per household.
“We should always think through how best can this information goes down to the grassroot and to the poor man who may not have TV, may not have radio they might not be able to afford newspaper to read your news.”
While assuring on her resolve to reposition the Ministry, Dr. Edu said: “Enough of the government saying we are going to reach 50 million people, it’s as if we are talking to ghost workers. Your job is to help Government to be transparent and to be as close to the people as possible.
“There’s a huge gap between government and the governed. They don’t the bones of government,” she noted.
In the bid to correct the wrongs, she pledged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration would “put them right at the centre of decision making of the nation no of over 230 million people.”
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