Abuja claims to disburse $700m to nearly 2m households nationwide
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
About $700 million from repatriated Abacha loot has been disbursed to more than 1.9 million poor and vulnerable households nationwide in the past six years.
Acting National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO)National Coordinator Kabir Abdullahi disclosed this at a meeting with the Centre for Health Education, Economic Rehabilitation and Social Security (CHEERS) in Abuja.
Also at the meeting were nine other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for the Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) of the National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP).
Abdullahi said beneficiaries in about four states have not been paid for two years because the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) seized a large chunk of the fund which has now been retrieved.
Payment in the affected states will begin soon, he added.
NASSP entails conditional and basic cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households which receive N5,000 every month and those under conditional cash transfer which get additional N5,000 – a total N10,000 every two months.
Abdullahi disclosed the register of beneficiaries of conditional cash transfer has 1,940,000 households but ongoing enrolment may increase the number to two million by December 2022.
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CSOs applaud scheme
CHEERS and other partner CSOs applauded the government on the implementation of NASSP, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Ajia Agagbo, CHEERS Executive Director TPM CSO National Team Lead, said the major problem is delay in payment to beneficiaries and urged Abuja to expand the programme to reach more poor and vulnerable households.
She explained NASSP TPM seeks to objectively and independently assess the perception of and satisfaction with the scheme by beneficiaries and communities as well as transparency and compliance with the guidelines
Agagbo disclosed 18 states and 191 new councils were added to previous 19 states and 280 councils monitored in Year 1 monitoring cycle.
The new states include Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Borno, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).