FG announces readiness to pay poor Nigerians 24.3 million for six months
The federal government has announced its readiness to give poor Nigerians about 24.3 million, saying each of them would get N5,000 for a period of six months amounting to N729bn, Gentechnews reports.
The minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, announced this at the inauguration of the Federal Government’s emergency intervention database for the urban poor.
According to a statement issued in Abuja by the minister’s aide, Nneka Anibeze, “the intervention would serve as cushion for those further impoverished by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“According to records, about 24.3 million poor and vulnerable individuals were identified at the end of 2020 and registered into the National Social Register. Each beneficiary will receive N5,000 for a period of six months.”
Farouq explained that the intervention database was needed to develop the capacity for rapid response to any emergency including natural or man-made disasters.
The minister said the Rapid Response Register, (RRR) was designed to rapidly identify, register and provide succour to people who were not previously captured in the social register.
Speaking on the RRR, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said the register deployed a wholly technology-based approach, adding that it was primed to achieve an end-to-end digital foot-print in cash transfers for the urban poor.
Osinbajo, added that it would also help the government to achieve its financial inclusion policy under the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access programme.
In his words “The groundbreaking success of the RRR now emboldens us to achieve our aspiration of a social security programme for a minimum of 20 million Nigerians in the next two years. This will be the largest of its kind on the continent.”
Osinbajo explained that the federal government would seek funding for the intervention programmes as the country deserved a social security scheme that would not only alleviate poverty but also create wealth for millions of those waiting for the opportunity.
