The Federal Government has paid cash transfers to over 8.3 million vulnerable Nigerians under the National Social Safety Net Programme, as civil society organisations launched the 2025 report on the implementation of the intervention across several states.
This was disclosed at the official launch of the Third Party Monitoring report on Thursday in Abuja.
The National Grievance Redress Mechanism Manager, Ichado Eleojo, explained that only beneficiaries captured and validated on the National Social Register, provided by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office, are paid.
“What we do is we try to facilitate payments to already targeted beneficiaries that have been validated into our data from the National Social Register.
“This National Social Register comes from NASCO, they do all the mining and everything,” Eleojo said.
She noted that payments are now strictly linked to the National Identification Number to ensure transparency.
She added, “So when the data comes, we validate that it goes with our NIN because now we have to use the NIN of beneficiaries to pay them for transparency and accountability. So when everything has been confirmed and all the approvals have been done, then payment is made to the respective beneficiaries.”
Eleojo added that President Bola Tinubu approved an increase in the cash transfer amount.
“Thanks to our President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Initially, it was N10,000 but now he has moved it up to N25,000 which is paid three times, so a beneficiary gets N75,000 three times.
“Once the beneficiary gets N75,000, that is all for that beneficiary. So far, we have paid up to 8.3 million beneficiaries.”
According to her, the programme has also been expanded in terms of coverage.
She stated, “Before the target was 10 million but because of the subsidy and COVID and all resilient to shock, so our President now said let us move it up to 15 million.”
She explained that monitoring and grievance management structures are in place across the country.
“We have the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, we have payment officers. You know, at the cash transfer, it is not just a payment, there are other officers who run it to be sure that everything falls into place.
“So from time to time there are monitoring activities, when grievances come, there are grievance officers to manage them at the state level, at the LGA level and we have officers that are ready to redress and resolve the grievances. So we monitor them, we get their feedback, we know where they are because we have their data,” she said.
Also speaking, Lead Consultant, Muryar Fulani Peace Initiative Network, Hassan Ibrahim, said the cash transfers have made visible impacts on beneficiaries, especially women in northern states.
“To be honest, though the amount received is less than 100,000, you can see that some of the women are pulling resources together to start small businesses, like food processing, like petty trading. And some were able to offset very important expenses, the medical bills with the grant.
“The cash transfer is really touching lives, and it’s making an impact within the part of the country where we covered. That is Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa states,” he said.
However, he urged the government to further review the amount in line with current economic realities. “Considering the inflation rate, I would strongly advise that the government should increase the amount. You should consider reviewing the amount upwards. Instead of less than 100,000, let the households get close to 100,000. That will help a lot.”
Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Officer, Foundation for Resilient Empowerment and Development, Amina Danjuma, said the field assessment was critical to verifying that the objectives of the programme are being met.
“This assessment was very necessary. So far, we have gone into the communities to ensure that the ultimate objective, which was to ensure accountability of this project, was met. And we didn’t meet directly with the beneficiaries to ensure that what this whole coordinating the National Safety Net Coordinating Office set out to is actually achieving, which is to ensure that the vulnerable population is being served and given, like, some kind of level of cushion effect to manage their hardship in the country,” she said.
Danjuma noted that beneficiaries expressed satisfaction with the intervention.
“And so far, from what we’ve seen, from what we assessed, indeed, the beneficiaries did give positive feedback. They are happy about their experiences, that they’re being supported by the government of Nigeria, and even though they hope for more. So, yes, the objective is being met, and hopefully we will do better than as a country generally,” he noted.
On her part, Gender and Communications Lead at the International Climate Change Development Initiative, Oloruntobi Adejare, said the launch of the report reflects the renewed focus of the government on cushioning the effects of hardship on vulnerable Nigerians.
“This event is about the renewed agenda of cash transfer, ensuring that Nigerians who do not have the wherewithal to survive in Nigeria, have the means being supported by the government, one way or the other, to alleviate the present situation of the country,” she said.
She explained that multiple CSOs were deployed nationwide to monitor the project, saying, “Several CSOs were put together and they were taken to different states to carry out this project. The report of that project being done by all the CSOs is what we have launched today.”
Adejare said ICCDI served as an independent monitor, adding, “ICCDI has acted as a third-party monitor on this project, monitoring the activities of all the CSOs worldwide. We are launching that project today, which is what we just did. The report is an activity of everything that has been carried out by all the different CSOs across several states.”
She highlighted challenges encountered during implementation.
“We look forward to going into other states. Some of the challenges we encountered were people not trusting the process and wanting to participate, but along the way, we were able to get them to come on board with the programme.
“Also, some of the places where we encountered security challenges due to the current insecurity happening in the country, we tried as much as possible to work with locals so that we were able to reach some of these places,” she said.
Adejare added that inclusivity was prioritised.
“Our major findings were that there were people who were indisposed, people physically challenged who could not reach some of these places. We tried as much as possible to make the process very inclusive.
“We tried as much as possible also to have more women on board and persons living with disability on board to ensure that the exercise got to everyone. As I said earlier, security challenges were encountered. Working with the locals and the chiefs, we were able to sum up some of these challenges,” she said.
She explained that the project is part of a broader poverty alleviation initiative under NASCO.
The National Social Safety Net Programme was established by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of poverty and economic shocks on vulnerable Nigerians.
It is coordinated by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office and targets poor households captured in the National Social Register across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The programme includes initiatives such as conditional and unconditional cash transfers, designed to help beneficiaries meet basic needs, improve household income and build resilience against economic hardship, especially in the face of rising inflation, fuel subsidy removal and lingering socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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