The Federal Government has disclosed that more than N600 billion in cash transfers has been disbursed to slightly over nine million households to cushion the impact of economic shocks, saying an impact assessment is underway to determine the programme’s measurable effect on poverty reduction.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he defended the government’s poverty reduction efforts amid concerns over the rising cost of living and increasing poverty levels.

Doro said the cash transfer programme was primarily introduced as a stabilisation measure following the removal of fuel subsidy and the economic shocks that accompanied the reform.

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“Over N600 billion in cash transfers has been done in three tranches, and that has made significant impact. We have reached slightly over nine million households, about 10 million households,” he said.

The minister, however, acknowledged that the government was yet to establish through updated data exactly how many beneficiaries had been lifted out of poverty as a result of the intervention.

According to him, the poverty data currently being used by the government is based on the 2022 multidimensional poverty assessment, while a review of the figures is being commissioned.

“I have not given you any figure. What I’ve said is this: there have been several interventions. I won’t give you a figure if we have not already reviewed what is going on. We will do this review and once we do that review, we will be able to share the numbers,” Doro said.

He explained that poverty could be measured through different methodologies, including income poverty and multidimensional poverty, which takes into account access to healthcare, education and other basic necessities.

Doro said the government was also working to overhaul the country’s social protection architecture through the newly unveiled One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response System, which he described as a major reform aimed at ending fragmentation in the delivery of social protection interventions.

“Before now, our delivery has been in such a way that it is fragmented, with different people doing different things to try to help the situation. But with the new reforms, it brings coordination and brings everything together so that the programmes and interventions start talking to one another,” he said.

He said the new system would coordinate interventions across the federal, state and local governments, while also improving collaboration with international development partners.

According to him, the system is designed to ensure that resources reach Nigerians who genuinely need them and prevent duplication and inefficiencies in social protection programmes.

“We want to avoid duplication and inefficiencies. We want to make sure that every naira that we invest is actually going directly to the last mile, and also be able to capture and meet the needs of the people who are truly in need of these interventions,” he said.

Doro said a key component of the new system was the Unified National Social Registry, which contains information on poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

He explained that eligible persons would be identified through the registry, enrolled into appropriate beneficiary programmes and subsequently tracked through growth and exit registers until they graduate from poverty.

The minister also cited other government interventions, including vocational training for more than 18,000 Nigerians, who he said were provided with starter kits, stipends and business management skills to enable them to establish sustainable businesses.

He said the ministry’s responsibility was to translate the gains of the government’s macroeconomic reforms into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

“My job is to translate macroeconomic gains to the micro level. As a Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, I translate the macroeconomic gains to the micro level,” Doro said.

Defending the administration’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market, Doro said the measures had helped stabilise and rebuild the Nigerian economy.

He said inflation had also begun to decline, noting that it had fallen from a peak of slightly above 34 per cent to about 15 per cent based on recent readings.

“We are actually driving down inflation, and that translates to increase in purchasing power,” he said.

Doro maintained that poverty reduction would take time, citing China’s experience of lifting hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty after decades of economic reforms and sustained growth.

“Things take time. China took about 40 years to be able to achieve the scale that they achieved. Nigeria can scale up poverty reduction, and I’m here to establish the system,” he said.

He said the Federal Government would continue to deploy shock-responsive cash transfers and other interventions whenever necessary to support poor and vulnerable Nigerians while longer-term poverty reduction mechanisms take effect.

Doro also assured that the ministry was willing to subject the cash transfer programme to a comprehensive and transparently auditable impact assessment.

“Yes, why not? If we do a holistic impact assessment, why not?” he said.