FG Targets 15 Million Households for ₦25k Cash Transfer Scheme

The Federal Government is targeting 15 million households, or approximately 75 million people, as part of its conditional cash transfer initiative, aimed at alleviating economic hardships faced by vulnerable Nigerians. 

This announcement was made by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Nentawe Yilwatda, who explained that each household would receive ₦25,000 per month, three times a year.

In an appearance on Channels Television's The Morning Brief on Monday, Yilwatda emphasized that the initiative was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to supporting the nation's most vulnerable.

 "The president was so specific; there are policies that he brought in to ease those challenges for people at the lower end of the pyramid," Yilwatda remarked.

He added, "The goal is to reach 15 million beneficiaries under the conditional cash transfer to help ease the pain of Nigerians who are at the bottom level under our social register. That’s households, not individuals. Each household, we assume approximately has about five people. So, if we are targeting 15 million households, it means the President is targeting 75 million Nigerians to be affected by this initiative."

Yilwatda revealed that the Federal Government has already reached 5 million individuals under the scheme. However, he noted that challenges persist, particularly around digital identity registration. 

"The new policy of CBN requires that you must have a digital identity before receiving any money for transparency and traceability of any funds. For now, we have about 1.4 million people on that register with digital identities. Many of the people we are reaching out to are not within the banking segment," he explained.

To address these concerns, the government has made efforts to clean up and update the social register, ensuring that recipients meet the necessary requirements. Yilwatda also mentioned that women are being targeted as household leaders due to their roles in caring for children and vulnerable family members. "We target women as household leaders. Because women take care of the children and the vulnerable," he said.

The conditional cash transfer scheme was suspended earlier this year following allegations of corruption. However, in February, the Federal Government announced its decision to restart the program and expand its reach to an additional 12 million households that could qualify for the payments.