Govt Steps Up Social Investment Programs

President Bola Tinubu recently at the State House Abuja inaugurated an expanded Conditional Cash Transfer program which targets 15 million households in the country. According to the President who unveiled the program on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, each eligible household is to receive N75,000 within a three-month time frame.

Additionally, the Minister of Finance Wale Edun has said the government will soon commence the second round payments to approximately one million verified recipients under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme of the Social Investment Program. Specifically, N24.78 billion is to be disbursed to 991.261 low-income households as part of governments efforts to support vulnerable citizens and reduce poverty in the country.

As much as it is understood that one million households is a drop in the ocean in a country of about 200 million people where about sixty percent of this population live in poverty, we must concede that the initiative if faithfully implemented will touch many lives. It is imperative for government to be transparent in the operations of these initiatives. Names and contact details of beneficiaries should be made available for tracking and verification given the corruption scandals that has trailed its much publicized social benefit schemes.

For instance, in our work in informal settlements in Enugu, Life Needs and Empowerment Initiative has through the administration of questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions and informal interactions with the residents and leaderships of these communities tried to locate even one of the people who has benefitted from this scheme without success. Yet poverty runs deep in these communities.