Cash transfer: Nigerians without NIN, BVN disqualified as CBN begins payment

Nigerians without National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) will not eligible for the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme.

This is as the Federal Government is reviewing and expanding the National Social Register to accommodate pensioners and ex-servicemen.

Beneficiaries who are either dead or have exited the poverty line have also been removed.

It was further gathered that payments would be made directly to the beneficiaries by the Central Bank of Nigeria and not through consultants, as the first batch of bulk payments would begin next week for five million households.

The Conditional Cash Transfer scheme is part of the National Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government, which is a project created to change the lives of millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty, upgrade their standards of living and improve the economy.

In commemoration of the 2023 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Tuesday in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu launched the disbursement of N25,000 to 15 million households for three months as a social safety net intervention.

The aim is to mitigate the impact of the recent fuel subsidy removal and help eradicate poverty across the country.

Providing further details on the initiative in response to inquiries by Saturday PUNCH, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Rasheed Olanrewaju, stated that the cash transfer scheme had been reviewed and expanded.

Asked if the Federal Government would use the old register used by the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration to transfer the money, he stated, “We are using a verified expanded register that has pensioners and veterans, as well as other vulnerable persons who were not captured.”