FG Targets 7.6m Households With N40,000 Digital Cash Transfer

The Federal Government has launched a $1bn social protection programme targeting 7.6 million vulnerable households across Nigeria with a one-off N40,000 digital cash transfer.

The Household Prosperity and Empowerment Social Protection Project, known as HOPE-SP, was unveiled under the government’s Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, disclosed that the latest intervention comes after the government disbursed more than N600bn in cash transfers to slightly over 10 million households in the past three years.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Doro said the government was shifting from simply providing cash assistance to tracking beneficiaries’ progress towards economic self-reliance.

“We’ve done over 600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years. We have reached slightly over 10 million households,” he said.

The minister said beneficiaries of the new programme must be registered on the National Social Register and validated with their National Identification Number.

The government is working with the National Identity Management Commission to facilitate NIN registration and verification for eligible households.

The HOPE-SP programme is part of broader government efforts to expand social protection and cushion vulnerable Nigerians from economic pressures.

However, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise has warned that corruption, political interference and weak implementation could affect the impact of social intervention programmes.

The group called for stronger safeguards to ensure that government support reaches the intended beneficiaries.