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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Following the subsidy removal, inflation and President Bola Tinubu N500 billion palliative approval request from the National Assembly, Civil Society groups have called for the upward review of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to poor and vulnerable households in the country.
The CCT is a Federal Government social protection programme designed to support the economic condition of poor and vulnerable households using the World Bank-assisted social register which has so far captured about 2 million poor and vulnerable households.
The civil society groups are therefore calling for the upward review of the current N5,000 monthly to a minimum wage of 30,000 or more in the face of current economic realities and growing inflation.
National Coordinator, National Social Protection Forum (a coalition of civil society working on social protection in Nigeria), Dr. Taiwo Benson told Daily Sun in an interview that “there is a process called Community Based Targeting (CBT) system which was used in selecting the beneficiaries based on what communities identified as poverty and vulnerability.
“So, there is a need to strengthen that targeting process because the majority of the beneficiaries are poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
We have also observed some individuals are not supposed to be on that list. N5,000 in July 2016 is not the same as N5000 in July 2023. It is better to provide something tangible considering the economic realities on the ground and inflation”.
Chairman, Zamfara Social Protection platform, Mr. Nasiru Biyabiki agreed that “the CCT when is it well planned and implemented is one of the very important ways of addressing poverty and vulnerability.
“However, the CCT here in Nigeria is faulty in the sense that the money for the household is meager. The amount has to be reviewed upward if we really want to pull some people out of poverty.
“So, if the government can revisit the drawing board to review it to meet up with the current situation we are in, the p programme could be better managed”, he opined.
Also, the Executive Director, Young People Initiative for Credible Leadership, AbdulWahab Ekekhide noted that the social protection programme of the immediate past administration was a good one especially the CCT aimed at pulling the extremely poor people out of poverty.
“If we are in a country that does upward review of minimum wage for those working in government, those poor people should also be considered for a minimum wage or even above that.
“We have about two million poor and vulnerable people in the social register which we can segment. For example, we can be focusing on a specific number of beneficiaries for this year another set for next year, and so forth until we can significantly reduce poverty and vulnerability in the land”, he suggested.
On his part, the Team Leader, Community Initiative for Sustainable Development, Mr. Stephen Bande whose organisation was among the third-party monitors of the social protection programme under President Muhammadu Buhari in Plateau and Kaduna States spoke against the alleged manipulation of the beneficiaries list by politicians.
“In as much as we appreciate the fact that government is thinking about the poor in that manner, as at that time, that N5,000 was not the best because the beneficiaries knew deep inside them that the amount was nothing tangible, they only accepted it as last resort.
“Now that we have a new government in place with the removal of fuel subsidy, N5,000 is just like N50 for a family, and looking at the current market situation, between N50,000-N100,000 will be better even if that means reducing the number of households that will benefit from it at intervals.
