President Bola Tinubu has approved the payment of N25,000 monthly grants to vulnerable pensioners captured in the expanded National Social Register of the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, announced on Thursday that he directed the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to commence the payment of the grants to beneficiaries from next month.
According to a statement issued by her Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Rasheed Zubair, the minister disclosed this when she met with the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress, led by its President, Joe Ajaero, at Labour House, Abuja.
She said,
“The President mentioned very clearly that vulnerable pensioners should be immediately captured in the National Social Register and benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer, as part of the national social safety net expansion.
“This was made clear in his speech on Independence Day where he committed N25,000 for 15 million household for three months”
Edu appealed to the NLC to help fast-track the process of collating data of would-be vulnerable pensioners so that they would start receiving the grant.
Responding, the NLC president expressed delight at the initiative, but noted that getting to the root cause of poverty would go a long way in addressing the problem confronting pensioners and workers.
Ajaero said,
“Let’s look at not only how to solve this problem, but the cause of it. If we continue to treat the effects of poverty, the problem will persist. Let us look at other social welfare interventions and job creation that will go a long way to support families.”
He thanked the minister for being the first member of the Federal Executive Council under the current administration to visit the labour house.
The President, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, thanked Tinubu and the minister for finding the retirees worthy of the grant by the Federal Government.
He said pensioners received as low as between N5,000 and N10,000 a month, and that the N25,000 grant would go a long way in supporting many of them.
