The administration of President Bola Tinubu has announced plans to relaunch direct cash transfers aimed at benefiting 12 million Nigerians as part of efforts to address the current economic challenges facing the nation.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed this during the ministry’s retreat held in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state, on Wednesday.
Edun explained that the direct cash transfer project, initially designed to support 3 million Nigerians, has been expanded to include an additional 12 million citizens in response to the prevailing economic difficulties.
“The presidential panel on the social investment programmes has prepared to go to Mr. President with an internal recommendation to restart the direct payments to the poorest and the most vulnerable. Everything is being done to ease the pain,” Edun stated.
He further elaborated, “We know that there’s been about 3 million beneficiaries now, but given the way the rates have gone, there are probably another 12 million people, households that can benefit from that payment.”
Edun emphasized the urgency of the intervention, highlighting that the delay is not due to awaiting the conclusion of the report but rather to ensure a seamless process leveraging technology.
“The only thing delaying that is not waiting for the end of the report. It is something that the intervention is meant to happen immediately,” he said. “We have experts in technology, the commitment was to make sure that we use technology to ensure that we have a seamless payment, a seamless movement between the registered and the direct beneficiaries, without any manual processes in between. So it’s taking time to automate that process immediately that direct payment will resume.”
