Federal Government has released N24,781,525,000 for payment to 991,261 households across 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), under the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer, (RH-CCT), of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
  
This amount, according to the National Coordinator, NSIPA, Dr Badamasi Lawal, is in continuation of previous disbursements of the sums of N3,825,950,000 to 153,038 households in August 2024 and another N20,955,575,000 earlier this month, September 2024 to 838,223 households.
  
Lawal, in a communiqué, said: “The Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer is aimed to cushion the economic shocks of beneficiaries, who are mostly poor and vulnerable Nigerian households.”

“The economic benefit includes, but is not limited to immediate poverty reduction, improved household finances and savings, ability of the beneficiaries. The health benefits provide opportunities for the beneficiaries to improve their health and nutritional services.”
  
He also noted that beneficiaries would have access to emotional and social benefits in the forms of livelihoods, interpersonal relationships and family happiness.
  
But reacting to the development, the Executive Director, ImpactHouse, John Andah, said while cash transfers might provide short-term relief to vulnerable households, their long-term impact on poverty reduction remained questionable. 
  
“Cash transfers are typically band-aid solutions and they rarely address the main reasons for poverty.
  
“The question is: can this intervention be sustained beyond the present economic crisis and what sustainable measures are being put in place to address poverty from the root,” he asked