By Danladi Ahmed
The Tinubu Media Volunteers (TMV) has highlighted and applauded the astronomical rise in the number of Nigerians benefitting from the federal government cash transfer programme.
This was after it emerged from a World Bank report that the number of beneficiaries had increased from 30.35 million in January 2024 to 32.21 million in January 2025.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Chukwudi Enekwechi and Secretary Shedrach Sunday, the group noted that the implication for the poverty alleviation programme of the Bola Tinubu administration is great.
It said: “The implication is that more poor and vulnerable Nigerians are now benefitting from the federal government’s cash transfer programme, thereby reducing poverty and ameliorating the adverse effects of fuel subsidy removal, rising costs of food items as well as inflation.
“In reality, the number of Nigerians who have benefitted from the programme between June 2024 and January 2025 stands at 1.86 million beneficiaries.
“We note that these statistics emanate from a verifiable source as the World Bank Implementation Status and Result Report on the federal government’s cash transfer programme released on January 29 2025.
“It is gratifying from the available information that women have benefitted more from the programme, and expectedly, this is impacting positively on poor households and the vulnerable groups in the country.
“We also acknowledge that as a way of ensuring transparency in the cash transfer programme, all transfers are digitally processed using the National Identification Numbers (NIN) or Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
“For us, this approach will go a long way to eliminating any element of fraud and abuse, thereby guaranteeing that the targeted beneficiaries are reached.
“We have no doubt that at the rate the programme is being implemented by the federal government, a threshold of about 56 million beneficiaries will be attained by December 2025.
“In our view, the programme will continue to play a pivotal role as a social safety net towards reducing poverty in the country and improving the economic condition of the poor and vulnerable among us.”
The group is convinced that the cash transfer programme will greatly reduce poverty in Nigeria and added that its diligent implementation will serve as proof of the gradual realization of the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
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