The Federal Government has disclosed it's preparedness to upscale the National Social Register and begin cash disbursement in the National Social Safety Nets Programme initiated by the previous administration.
This was the outcome of the meeting held by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, and the World Bank Country Director, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, in Abuja on Thursday.
According to the new Humanitarian Affairs Minister, the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that led to the refocusing of the Ministry on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is such that has planned to cover 15 million household under Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) through the updated Social Safety Net Project.
Recall that the former Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in November 2022 announced the end of Conditional Cash Transfer Programme.
However, the Tinubu administration through Dr Edu has restated commitment to revisit the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, verify the beneficiaries, scale up the National Social Register, and commence disbursement of the $800M proposed for the programme soonest.
Among the issues discussed in the meeting was partnership with the Ministry on preparations to host the Humanitarian Dialogue as well as creation of the Renewed Hope Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund (HPATF). The Trust Fund will be funded through Federal Government budgetary allocation, Development partners, international community, taxes, private sector contribution etc.
The minister sought the support of World bank to verify and expand the National Social Register (NSR). She also urged them to offer their technical support in order to work with the Ministry to achieve Mr President’s target.
In response, the World Bank Country Director affirmed to provide all needed support for the Honourable Minister to deliver on the new focus of the Ministry.
"The proposed disbursement of $800M for the Social Safety Nets Project will commence soonest.
"We will support the verification and scaling up of the National Social Register, provide technical support in the preparation of the Ministry to attend UNGA and give specialized backing for the establishment of the Trust Fund" Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri assured.
The Rapid Response Register (RRR) for COVID-19 Cash Transfer is a World Bank-assisted National Social Safety Nets Project initiated by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development. Its purpose is to identify and register the urban and semi-urban poor who have experienced income loss and increased poverty due to the harsh economic impact of COVID-19. The RRR Payment entails a lump sum of N5,000 provided as a monthly cash transfer for six months, totaling N30,000.
According to the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), the Household Uplifting Programme (HUP) otherwise known as the Conditional Cash Transfer aims at responding to deficiencies in capacity and lack of investment in human capital of poor and vulnerable households. The Programme focuses on the poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria as identified through a combination of geographic and community-based targeting mechanisms. A sum of N5,000 is transferred to the vulnerable households for a period of six months.
0 Comments
Kindly let your voice be heard through the comment section below