Despite several calls, Nigeria’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has not addressed transparency and accountability concerns.
Development Diaries reports that the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, recently disclosed that one million vulnerable households in Kogi State have benefited from the federal government’s conditional cash transfer.
Edu, according to media reports, disclosed this in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, after the ministry commenced the distribution of N20,000 grants to vulnerable groups in the state.
While the minister is revealing figures of supposed beneficiaries of the cash transfer programme, Nigerians need to know the details of these beneficiaries.
It would seem as though there is a deliberate attempt to withhold information from the general public on how funds are being disbursed to achieve poverty and hunger alleviation.
In Edu’s words, ‘The president is committed to seeing that he pulls Nigerians out of poverty. He has placed a demand on himself and his team that a minimum of 50 million Nigerians be out of poverty.
‘To achieve this, the president set up a team to identify the poorest of our people and came up with a series of programmes that will improve the economy of the common man’.
Some questions demand answers.
What team was set up? Which organisations or individuals make up the team? How did they identify, or how are they identifying the poorest of the poor? What mechanisms were used to identify them? How are funds being disbursed? Who are the implementing partners? What are the recorded timelines for the achievement of these programmes?
Earlier in November 2023, the minister alerted Nigerians to the existence of a portal created to defraud Nigerians.
What then is the ministry’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) doing to educate Nigerians on the procedure for cash disbursement, even as it warns them about fraudulent portals?
For improved results, Development Diaries reiterates its calls on the minister to inform the public about the policy implementation procedures of the cash transfer programme, and provide up-to-date information on the beneficiaries of the programme.
Also, state governments should provide the public with information about the implementation of programmes while reports are sent to appropriate federal ministries. This is part of the transparency and accountability required for good governance.
Photo source: Beta Edu
