The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation will from next month start payment of N25,000 grants to the benefiting members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners captured in the expanded National Social Register of the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, Scheme.
This is according to the statement signed on behalf of the Minister For Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu by his Special Adviser on Media, Rasheed Olanrewaju.
He said the Minister announced this on Wednesday when she met with the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC led by its President, Joe Ajaero at Labour House, Abuja.
The Minister explained that the decision to include vulnerable pensioners in the CCT scheme was President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to labour leaders which he will deliver on.
Quoting the Minister Edu, ”The President mentioned very clearly that vulnerable pensioners should be immediately captured on the National Social Register and benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer, as part of the national social safety net expansion and this was made clear in his speech on Independence Day where he committed N25,000 for 15 million household for three months.”
She appealed to the NLC to help fast-track the process of collating data of would-be vulnerable pensioners beneficiaries so that they can start receiving CCT.
According to the report, the Minister commended Ajaero for being a team player, saying the task of moving Nigeria forward was a collective one and urged him to continue to have faith in the federal government under President Tinubu.
In his reaction, Ajaero expressed delight at the various poverty alleviation schemes rolled out by the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry and the passion and commitment the minister has for the job.
He was however of the view that getting to the root cause of poverty would go a long way in addressing the problem.
According to the report, the NLC boss urged the federal government to create more jobs by creating a productive economy where factories are functioning and employing workers.
Also speaking, President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, thanked President Bola Tinubu and the Minister for finding the retirees worthy of the Federal government benefits.
He said pensioners received as low as between N5,000 and N10,000 a month, saying N25,000 is a big money to them. He thanked the Minister for the exceptional performance so far urging her to keep up the speed.
Hijra News /Anjola Babatope