The motion sponsor said the lack of transparency in the implementation of the previous Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes was fraught with fraud, as funds intended for vulnerable people were misappropriated by individuals.
The House of Representatives has invited the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betty Edu, to provide a detailed policy document adopted in the allocation and distribution of N1 trillion Conditional Cash Transfer to 15 million households in Nigeria to ensure transparency and accountability.
The invite forms part of the prayers of a motion of matter of urgent national importance on the “Urgent Need to Invite the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to Brief the House on the Formula Adopted to Distribute the N1.1 Trillion Conditional Cash Transfer to 15 Million Households in Nigeria” sponsored by Rep. Morufu Adewale Adebayo (PDP, Osun).
In his lead debate, Rep. Adebayo noted that the Conditional Cash Transfer programme is an immediate intervention by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy and other economic shocks for vulnerable groups in Nigeria.
He noted that the conditional cash transfer is one of the 15 items in the memorandum of understanding between the federal government and organized labor on October 2nd, 2023, adding that 15 Million households will be receiving N25,000 each, over a period of 3 Months.
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The lawmaker stated there has been a lot of unsatisfactory feedback from the ways and manners palliative to vulnerable Nigerians have been handled by some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), which has not in any way reduced hardship in the land.
Rep. Adebayo noted the need for the National Assembly to be privy to the implementation of the programme considering the mismanagement of the Covid-19 palliative distribution a few years ago, as well as the growing suspicion of the manner the programme will be implemented.
“The National Assembly members being closer to the people of Nigeria are meant to represent the interest and concerns of their constituents at the National level and, therefore deserve to be fully briefed and carried along in the implementation process.
“The lack of transparent handling of the previous conditional cash transfer programmes has led to corruption and fraud, where funds intended for vulnerable people were misappropriated by individuals.”
The motion was unanimously adopted when the presiding officer Speaker Tajudeen Abbas put the question and mandated the Committee on Constituency Outreach and Committee on Poverty Alleviation for further legislative action.
