The National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) says it has disbursed N1.4 billion to 200,000 households in 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mr Danladi Kobi, the Chief Press Secretary of NAPEP, stated this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
He said?the payment was for the last batch of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT) stipends to the poor.
The statement said that the scheme was being financed by the Millennium Development Goals office (MDG) as?a Social Safety Net Programme designed to arrest “intergenerational transfer of poverty’’.
According to the statement, almost 200,000 households will benefit from the sum with each family receiving N5,000 monthly.
“This is an avenue to alleviate poverty in the country,’’ the statement said.
It said?the?National Coordinator of NAPEP, Malam Mukhtar Tafawa-Balewa, had directed the state secretaries of the programme to ensure effective monitoring of the payment process to guarantee transparency and accountability.
The statement noted that in February, more than 500 members of staff of NAPEP were trained and sent out to target and capture the biometric data of the core poor in the 27 states of the federation.
It added that the poorest households were provided with cash grants?to enable them to send their children to school and attend primary health facilities.
“The money was disbursed to Ecobank of Nigeria and the bank management issued?valid identity cards to beneficiaries to avoid cheating and confusion,’’ it said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that NAPEP recently disbursed N50 million to Giana Local Government Area in Nasarawa State as part of the concluded last batch of CCT payments. (NAN)