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By John Ogunsemore
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, said 15 million vulnerable households have been captured for conditional cash assistance being implemented in partnership with the World Bank to cushion the effects of economic hardship.
In an appearance on Arise TV on Friday, the minister said the beneficiary households were captured in the Benefit Register drawn from the National Social Register, which currently boasts 17.9 million households and 70 million Nigerians.
He said not every household found on the National Social Register qualified to be on the Benefit Register.
“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.
Doro said, “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 emphasised that the conditional cash assistance is temporary and intended to ameliorate the economic hardship faced by beneficiaries.
He explained that the National Social Register was built using data from community-based assessments and socio-economic data but beneficiaries for special interventions get picked separately depending on programme objectives.
“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.
