The Nigerian government has commenced cash transfer to poorest households in the country to cushion the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
This was disclosed on Monday by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, during a press briefing by the presidential task force on the disease in Abuja.
Farouk said the ministry has commenced advance payment of conditional cash transfer to the poorest households in the country. Adding that the vulnerable group will also be expanded to consider more persons during the infection period.
She stated: “In Mr. President’s speech, paragraph 54, he directed that the conditional cash transfer should be given in advance of two months. This we have also done. We have directed immediate cash transfer to the poorest and most vulnerable households in the country.
“Because of this COVID-19, the vulnerable groups have to be expanded, because we are aware that there are people who live on daily wage, so we are also going to look at those groups of people to see how we can get this food relief intervention to them in this period.”
The minister further stated that the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA has deployed trucks of relief materials to states affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Recall that MERIDIAN SPY had reported on Sunday that the president, Muhammadu Buhari, in his live broadcast, directed an immediate payment of the conditional cash transfers to the most vulnerable in the society for the next two months.
