The social investment programme has expanded its reach to 25 million vulnerable Nigerians from five million households, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said yesterday.
The programme involves direct cash transfers to individuals on the social register, verified through biometric identification and paid through bank accounts or mobile wallets.
According to Edun, who spoke with reporters at the State House, Abuja after the 145th meeting of the National Economic Council, the first and second payments have already been made to beneficiaries.
“There are direct transfers to the people on the social register that has been put together by all levels of government and have been verified.
“People are paid after they have been uniquely identified biometrically, and they are paid digitally through a bank account or mobile wallet.
“Those payments have been rolled out. They’ve now reached five million households, 25 million Nigerians, and first and second payments are being made.
“That process of having a robust social register, where you can reach people directly and help them with payments that allow them to choose what their priority is and go and then deal with that priority, is something that will be ongoing.
“A society always needs to help its poorest and its most vulnerable because relatively you’re always going to have people who need help,” Edun said.
To address food affordability, he said the government has introduced a programme allowing millers to import duty-free and levy-free brown rice to bridge the 2.5 million metric tons supply gap.
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