The Nigerian Government has disbursed N24.78 billion to 991,261 poor households as part of efforts to tackle economic hardship.

The initiative, themed: ‘the National Cash Transfer Program’ is spearheaded by the National Social Investment Programme Agency with beneficiaries across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

In a statement on Thursday, NSIPA National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Badamasi Lawal, said the disbursement was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at cushioning the impact of high prices of goods and services as inflation stood at 32.15 percent in August.

He explained that the Federal Government had in August 2024 paid N3.83 billion to 153,038 households.

Lawal stated that in September 2024, the agency shared N20.96 billion among 838,223 households and each beneficiary household received N25,000 through their designated Financial Service Providers.

“The Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer is aimed to cushion the economic shocks of the beneficiaries who are mostly the poor and vulnerable Nigerian households,” the statement added.

The development comes as the government said it made the second tranche of payments to approximately one million beneficiaries of its cash-based Social Investment Programme.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, disclosed this during a meeting with the Presidential Panel on the Social Investment Programme.

This comes months after a scandal rocked the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry.

Consequently, in January 2024, President Tinubu suspended the Minister, Dr Betta Edu and Halima Shehu, the then National Coordinator of NSIPA over alleged financial misappropriation.