Nigerians Living In Urban Cities Make Up 83% Of Beneficiaries Of FG’s Cash Transfer Program

The Nigerian government’s cash transfer program, supported by an $800 million World Bank loan, has reached over three million poor and vulnerable households as of May 2024. However, a significant majority, 83%, of the beneficiaries are located in urban areas.

The program, which was designed to mitigate the impact of economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies, has so far benefited 700,000 rural households and 2.5 million urban households. The slow progress is attributed to delays in project commencement and the need for approvals from the National Assembly.

Despite targeting 15 million households with a planned N75,000 support over three months, only about 20% of this target has been achieved. The initiative is part of the National Social Safety Net Program-Scale Up (NASSP-SU), which also integrates digital payment mechanisms and aligns the National Social Register with the National Identification Number to enhance targeting.

The World Bank has flagged the project as highly risky, with recommendations to suspend field activities pending a Root Cause Analysis and a Safeguards Corrective Action Plan due to environmental, social, and security risks.

Challenges faced by the project include two fatal incidents involving project staff, highlighting significant security concerns. The project has begun preparing a Security Risk Assessment and Management Plan to mitigate these risks. Meanwhile, the World Bank emphasizes that cash transfers are crucial for alleviating intergenerational poverty, especially as inflation and low economic growth threaten to increase poverty levels in Nigeria. Despite higher poverty rates in rural areas, urban inflation exacerbates the economic challenges faced by urban households.