The federal government has said it would support 62 million individuals directly through Conditional Cash Transfer programme with the sum of N75, 000 each to be paid in three tranches of N25, 000 for a period of three months.
It also promised support for 1.5 million market women through its Iyaloja Fund.
Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Dr Betta Edu stated this Tuesday when she paid a courtesy call on her information and national orientation counterpart, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi in Abuja.
She said: “We are carrying out different social protection programmes within the national social safety net to ensure that we reach out to Nigerians.
“How can we provide shelter, health care, nutrition, housing for 16 million persons affected by humanitarian crisis? We need to provide for these people, some of them are IDPs that were displaced as a result of insurgency , some of them are as a result of natural disasters like flooding.
“We have several programmes aimed at bringing Nigerians out of poverty, we have the end hunger programme which includes the National Home Grown School Feeding, Conditional Cash Transfer. President Tinubu will be supporting 15 million households which translate to 62 million individuals directly with conditional cash transfer of N75, 000 which will be paid in three tranches of N25, 000 each for three months.”
She said “the Iyaloja Fund will be provided to the market women to enable them expand their capital and improve on their businesses.
“These are non-interest loan that will be given to those persons. The first one that will be launched after the Conditional Cash Transfer by the grace of God on 17th of October, is the market women money that is the Iyaloja Fund.
“The government will be paying 50,000 naira each to market women to expand their businesses and improve on it. We are targeting a total number of 1.5 million persons to benefit from it and this will be happening in phases. The first phase will be 500,000, second phase will be 500,000 and third phase is 500,000.”
In his response, Alhaji Malagi assured her of his ministry’s support, adding that poverty alleviation is key to economic development.
“You see poverty alleviation is key to progress, development and unity that we all desire. If you don’t alleviate poverty, if you don’t bring people back to prosperity, then everything that you do comes to naught,” the minister said.
He commended her for cleaning the social register which was disputed by governors and other stakeholders.
Malagi further said: “One of the first things you did was to clean up the social register. The social register has been disputed by the governors and many stakeholders. So, one of the first assignments you undertook was to ensure that the social register is cleaned up so that everybody will have faith in.
“I remember during our engagement with labour, it was one of the issues that were raised. So, I am happy that you have taken that initiative because without
adequate data, planning becomes difficult.
“For us at the ministry of information and national orientation, our job is to ensure that every government programme and policy is publicised and taken out there so that people can better understand and key into it, so that goodwill is generated for the programme.”
He reiterated his commitment to ensuring transparent and accountable reportage of government programmes and policies.
“Gone are the days when someone sits in one place and say government did that, government did not do that. We said we will report it the way it is in a most transparent, accountable and truthful manner. This is the commitment we have made to Nigerians.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s eight areas of priority and Renewed Hope Agenda hope emphasise the need for people to be truthful, honest and transparent. We in the ministry here are the custodians of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“I assure you that we will work with you to ensure that all the things you outlined, like the conditional cash transfer, urban shelter are properly implemented,” he said.
