The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has announced that six million Nigerians have benefited from the federal government’s Conditional Cash Transfer initiative in the last six months.
Prof. Yilwatda shared this information on Thursday, while speaking to participants of the ongoing Skills-to-Wealth (S2W) training initiative in Jos, Plateau State.
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The minister mentioned that in the previous nine years, only two million Nigerians had taken part in the conditional cash transfer programme, but clarified that the ministry has now embraced a more effective methodology.
“In the past, a mere two million individuals received assistance through the conditional cash transfer initiative, translating to roughly 200,000 individuals helped each year over nine years.
“We are in the process of digitizing all households within the social registry, assigning them digital identities, creating electronic wallet accounts, and performing physical verifications.
“We have eliminated many incorrect entries from the social registry, those we could neither authenticate nor recognize.
“In just a six-month timeframe, we have reached six million individuals, equating to about one million beneficiaries each month,” he noted.
The minister further indicated that the programme aims to enroll 15 million Nigerians by October.
“The president is committed to aiding 15 million households before the end of October.
“He has mandated that the allocated funds be distributed to the beneficiaries within a timeframe of nine months,” Prof. Yilwatda detailed.
He also pointed out that the ministry has collaborated with the World Bank for independent verification of the beneficiaries involved in the programme.
“After allocating funds to the first four million recipients, I asked the World Bank to send an independent team to validate the beneficiaries.
“We sought to ensure the integrity of our actions, and the findings confirmed that those who received funds were indeed included in the social register.
“The verification team visited the homes of the beneficiaries and made contact with 96 percent of them personally.
“The remaining four percent, who could not be verified, live in areas that are difficult to access or have relocated due to safety concerns,” he added.
Concerning the Skills-to-Wealth initiative, the minister explained that it is designed to empower Nigerian youth across three vital sectors: agriculture, renewable energy, and the automotive industry.