FG, NIBSS partner to forestall funds’ diversion

The Special Adviser to the President on Social Protection, Maryam Uwais, said the partnership between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) to disburse government’s conditional cash transfer was to forestall any case of fraud in the programme.

Speaking at an interactive session organised by ActionAid with the civil society actors to serve as a third party in the monitoring of the Federal Government’s social protection programme, Uwais said over one million vulnerable poor households will receive the Federal Government’s stipend of N5, 000 monthly as conditional cash transfer for one year, while additional 200,000 households will receive livelihood support of the World Bank.

Conditional cash transfer is one of President MuhammaduBurahi’s administration’s social protection programmes, designed to cater for vulnerable poor Nigerians with a monthly stipend of N5, 000.

The programme is yet to take off eight months into 2016 due to revenue constraint experienced in the 2016 budget. Giving an insight into the payment system, Maryam, wife of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, MuhammedLawalUwais, said the programme would ensure that the money goes directly to the beneficiaries, adding that banks are liable for the entire transmission chain.