Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr Bernard Mohammed Doro
Federal Government has spent N600 billion on cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians and reached about 10 million households under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, has said.
Doro disclosed this during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday August 27 while responding to questions about the administration’s efforts to reduce poverty since taking office.
The minister was asked to provide a specific number of Nigerians who had been lifted out of poverty during the administration’s three years in office. Rather than give a figure for the number of people lifted out of poverty, Doro cited the government’s cash transfer programme and the number of households that had benefited.
“We’ve done N600 billion in cash transfers to support vulnerable Nigerians and reached about 10 million households,” he said.
The minister’s figures indicate that the government’s cash transfer programme has provided financial assistance to millions of households considered vulnerable.
However, Doro did not state how many Nigerians had actually moved out of poverty as a result of the administration’s policies and interventions.
The distinction between households receiving cash assistance and people being lifted out of poverty formed a key aspect of the exchange, as the minister’s response focused on the scale of government spending and the reach of the programme.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction oversees federal programmes designed to provide humanitarian assistance and address poverty and vulnerability across the country.
Doro’s disclosure places the government’s cash transfer programme among the major interventions being highlighted by the administration in its efforts to cushion economic hardship and support vulnerable Nigerians.
While the minister provided figures for expenditure and household beneficiaries, no specific figure was given for the number of Nigerians lifted out of poverty under the Tinubu administration.
