Dr Betta Edu Minister of Humanitarian Affairs
October 9, 2023
…To launch conditional cash transfer to 15m households October 17
While the interest-free loan scheme for traders – started in 2018 – has been on hold for some time, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Mrs Betta Edu said the government is set to relaunch it.
Confirming that the scheme has not been scrapped, she said: “Now, for the first set, which we are starting in November, we are selecting one big market per senatorial district. That is 109 markets and we are going into the markets, capturing the traders in their shops in the markets.
Unlike the N10,000 given to traders in the earlier phases, there is more money for the beneficiaries.
“It’s N50,000 to support their businesses,” she said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“We are not interested in party lines, or any social or personal interest. We capture them in the market and then after doing so, we create a bank account just as they are being captured, and the monies are sent directly from the CBN account,” the minister noted.
According to her, it is a one-off interest-free loan with those who repay qualifying for another loan.
While dismissing claims that the programme is a political tool, the minister said elections are over, arguing that the present government is committed to making things better for Nigerians.
“Well, we don’t have elections right now. As we are starting, the Renewed Hope GEEP programme, we don’t have elections, we have Nigerians. Politics is over. We are facing governance. That’s what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is all about,” the minister added.
“Now, for the first set which we are starting in November, we selecting one big market per senatorial district. That is 109 markets.”
She equally said the conditional cash transfer policy of the government is set to return later in the month.
“With the approval from the President which we hope to get this week, on the 17th of October, we will be officially launching the conditional cash transfer to 15m households in Nigeria,” she added, noting that the government is cleaning up the social register for effectiveness.
