Anti-corruption advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, has called on the Federal Government to use electronic transfer for the payment of N5,000 to the poor people, rather than making physical payment.
The group said transferring the N5,000 electronically would be more cost-effective than the distribution of cash.
It also demanded that the Federal Government provide it with the details of schoolchildren who are benefiting from the school feeding programme, which the government said was still running despite the lockdown in some states.
SERAP made these demands in a Freedom of Information request sent to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development, Ms Sadia Umar-Farouk.
In a separate FoI request to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, SERAP also demanded the “spending details of public funds and private sector donations to provide socio-economic benefits to the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people, including details of beneficiaries of any cash payments, cash transfers, food distribution and other benefits during the lockdown in Abuja; Lagos and Ogun states because of COVID-19.”
In the letter to Umar-Farouk, SERAP said, “Rather than making physical cash payments to the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people, we urge you to begin electronic cash transfers to all beneficiaries through individuals’ Bank Verification Numbers, already available through the banks. This would be cost-effective at this time of crisis, provide immediate and significant benefits, as well as give individuals and families the freedom to spend the money on goods and services that best meet their particular needs.”
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