 programme in just six months.){kind=link}
Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, has revealed that six million Nigerians have received support through the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme in just six months.
The minister made this known on Thursday while speaking in Jos during an interactive session with participants of the Skills-to-Wealth (S2W) training programme.
He noted that the current pace of disbursement represents a significant improvement over past years.
“In nine years, only two million people had access to the programme, which averaged around 200,000 people per year,” Yilwatda said.
“With the improved system now in place, we’ve reached one million people monthly over the past six months.”
He explained that the ministry has adopted a digital-first approach by updating the social register, assigning digital IDs to households, creating e-wallets, and physically verifying beneficiaries.
He added that many invalid or unverifiable entries have been removed from the register.
Yilwatda also disclosed that the goal is to support 15 million Nigerians by October, following directives from President Bola Tinubu.
“The President has given clear instructions that all planned disbursements must be completed within nine months,” he said.
To ensure transparency and accountability, Yilwatda said the ministry invited the World Bank to carry out an independent audit of the programme.
“After we disbursed payments to four million people, we asked the World Bank to verify the beneficiaries.
They found that 96 percent of the recipients were genuine and traceable through home visits,” he explained.
“The remaining four percent couldn’t be reached due to either displacement or difficult terrain.”
On the ongoing Skills-to-Wealth programme, the minister explained that it is designed to equip young Nigerians with practical skills in agriculture, renewable energy, and automotive trades — areas critical to reducing unemployment and poverty.