Reps Summon Humanitarian Affairs Minister over N1.1 Trn Conditional Cash Transfer

The House of Representatives has summoned the Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, to provide details of the process and criteria used to select the 15 million households as beneficiaries of the N1.1 trillion Conditional Cash Transfer.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Moruf Adebayo (PDP, Osun) on Tuesday.

Presenting the motion, he said the Nigerian government has planned to implement a conditional cash transfer programme to provide immediate relief to vulnerable groups affected by the removal of petrol subsidy and other economic shocks.

He said, the removal of fuel subsidy has necessitated various programmes, policies, and interventions to alleviate economic hardship for families and small businesses.

He noted that the programme is one of the 15 items outlined in the memorandum of understanding between the federal government and organized labour on October 2nd, 2023.

According to him, the government plans to distribute N25,000 to 15 million households over a period of three months.

Rep. Adebayo, however, stated that there have been concerns about the transparency and effectiveness of previous palliative programmes for vulnerable Nigerians.

He said there is also concern about corruption and fraud in previous conditional cash transfer programmes where funds intended for vulnerable people were misappropriated by individuals.

He said the mismanagement of international donor items during the COVID-19 pandemic distribution is a good example which he said raised the growing suspicion about how the new programme will be implemented.

The lawmaker recalled that World Bank country representatives have confirmed that cash transfers are widely applicable in reducing poverty.

He further noted that National Assembly members were closer to the people and represent their interests at the national level as such they deserve to be fully briefed and carried along in the implementation process.