COVID-19: FG To Transfer Cash To Poor Nigerians

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has revealed that the Federal Government is developing a Rapid Response Register to scale up the enrollment of poor and vulnerable citizens in urban centres.

Speaking at the Open Government Partnership 2020 Virtual Leaders’ Summit Roundtable, the Minister said the register would be compiled through the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office.

According to Ahmed, the poor and vulnerable Nigerians captured in the register would benefit from cash transfers to cushion the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

However, she revealed that payments would be made directly to the accounts of the individuals using their bank verification numbers to ensure transparency.

In a statement issued in by the Minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Yunusa Abdullahi, the finance minister said data for the response register were being sourced through primary and secondary sources.

The sources include the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System and the National Communication Commission database on mobile phone users.

She added that the government was also scaling up social safety nets, including cash transfers and school feeding programmes.