Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadia Umar-Farouk to publish details of the proposed payments of N729bn to 24.3 million poor Nigerians for six months.
The non-governmental organisation also wants the minister to provide details about the mechanisms and logistics for the payments, list of beneficiaries, how they have been selected, projected payments per state, and whether the payments will be made in cash, through Bank Verification Numbers or other means.
SERAP’s request follows the announcement by the minister last week that the Federal Government would pay about 24.3 million poor Nigerians N5,000 each for a period of six months.
She had disclosed the plan at the inauguration of the Federal Government’s emergency intervention database for the urban poor, saying the payments would serve as a cushion for those further impoverished by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But SERAP is demanding an explanation of the rationale for paying out the amount, which it says translates to five-per cent of the country’s budget of N13.6 trillion for 2021.