The World Bank has disclosed that only 0.1% of poor and vulnerable Nigerians expected to benefit from the federal government’s N25,000 cash palliative have gotten the money.
The World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, was quoted by The Times to have given the data last week in Abuja during the Nigeria Development Update, December 2023 edition.
News360 Info recalls the administration of President Bola Tinubu had promised to give N25,000 cash handouts to vulnerable Nigerians for three months under the Conditional Cash Transfer Programas a way of cushioning the effect of the fuel subsidy removal introduced by his government.
However, the report said approximately 99.9% of targeted poor and vulnerable households are yet to get the cash.
This program, with $800 million in support from the World Bank, intends to assist 15 million Nigerian households that make less than N75,000 per month and are considered poor, near-poor, or vulnerable.
However, Sienaert revealed that the program is anticipated to reach 5 million households by the end of December, with 1.5 million households having received money thus far.
“Merely 0.1% of the anticipated families have received payment, as only 1.5 million of the targeted 15 million households have been paid for,” he said.