15m households to get conditional cash support, says FG

The Federal Government has placed about 15 million vulnerable households on its Benefit Register for conditional cash transfers under a shock-response scheme being implemented with the World Bank.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television on Friday. He clarified that inclusion in the National Social Register does not automatically qualify households for direct financial support.

“We are currently offering conditional cash assistance in conjunction with the World Bank, but this money is actually meant as a shock response. And so not everyone within the 17.9 million households in the register is in the Benefit Register. The Benefit Register is around 15 million vulnerable households,” he said.

Doro explained that the National Social Register contains about 17.9 million vulnerable households, translating to nearly 70 million individuals nationwide, but beneficiaries for specific programmes are selected separately.

“Every poor person at the moment in the country that has been captured because the target started with the poorest of the poor. At the moment we have about 17.9 million vulnerable households that have been captured in the register, which translates to around 70 million individuals in that register. We are continuing to expand the register to capture as many people as possible,” he stated.

He noted that communities help identify those in need through set criteria and verification visits.

“Communities will guide us based on the questions that we have and the criteria that we have to be able to identify who is poor amongst them. And then we take steps also to validate these when we visit their homes, we look at the condition of the homes, we also look at their own personal data and we use this to be able to target who is the poorest of the poor,” he added.

Doro reiterated that the cash transfer scheme is temporary relief aimed at cushioning economic shocks, while the broader register continues to expand to support targeted poverty reduction efforts.