By Paul Joseph
The Federal Government says it has disbursed more than N600 billion in cash transfers to over 10 million households across Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu assumed office three years ago.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, disclosed this on Wednesday during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.
Doro said the intervention was designed to support poor and vulnerable households and improve their living conditions, noting that the 10 million beneficiary households could represent about 40 million Nigerians 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.
He added that the Federal Government had also rolled out a vocational skills programme, which has trained more than 18,000 beneficiaries and provided them with starter kits and stipends.
According to Doro, participants in the programme also received training in business management and accounting to equip them with the skills needed to establish and run sustainable businesses.
The minister said the government was equally supporting farmers through separate intervention programmes aimed at improving livelihoods, boosting productivity and reducing poverty.
Defending the impact of the cash transfer scheme, Doro argued that the N25,000 provided to beneficiaries could make a meaningful difference to Nigerians living in extreme poverty.
“N25,000 can look very small to elites, but not to the poorest of the poor,” he said.
Doro explained that his ministry was focused on ensuring that improvements in Nigeria’s broader economy translated into better living conditions for ordinary citizens.
“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 raised concerns about the risk of worsening food insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria following projections that more than 70 million people across nine conflict-affected states could face acute food insecurity.
He, however, stressed that the figures were projections and did not necessarily mean that all those identified would eventually experience food insecurity.
Doro said the Federal Government had recently implemented a presidential intervention on food and nutrition across 10 northern states and would continue to monitor developments and provide further support where necessary.
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