• 1m to benefit monthly
No fewer than 4.3 million Nigerians have received direct cash transfers from the Federal Government, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, said yesterday.
He said one million citizens were reached in the last few weeks, while the target is to transfer cash to one million vulnerable Nigerians each month.
The minister spoke on a business programme of a national television during which he outlined the Federal Government’s comprehensive plan to address the current economic challenges.
He said the government was expanding its cash transfer programme to support the poorest and most vulnerable.
The programme, he said, had reached 4.3 million people, with plans to increase this number rapidly.
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“Right now, it’s about 4.3 million. But the last million was in the last few weeks. And when I say we’re ramping at a rate of 1 million per month, that is an ongoing process,” Edun said.
He projected that the programme could potentially scale to assist a million people per week or every two weeks, depending on technological capabilities.
Of great importance to the government, Edun said, is the welfare of the people, particularly the vulnerable.
One of the key areas of focus is ensuring food availability and affordability.
Edun said: “There is a concerted effort to ensure that we have homegrown food available.
“In the short term, there is, apart from what is being distributed from reserves, a window that has been opened for importation because the commitment of Mr. President is to drive down those prices now and make food available now.”
He emphasised that this measure will not undermine local farmers, as importation will only be permitted after exhausting local supplies.
“One of the conditions for this importation will be that everything available locally in the markets or with the millers and so forth has been taken up. We will have auditors that will check that,” he said.
Edun noted that these interventions aim to reduce inflation, stabilise the exchange rate, and lower interest rates, thereby creating a conducive environment for investment and job creation.
“With the kind of food production programme we have, inflation will come down as prices come down. When inflation comes down, exchange rate will stabilize.
“Interest rates will come down and the economy will have a chance.
“People will have a chance at reasonable rates to invest in various sectors of the economy, increase productivity, grow the economy and create jobs which is the key to reducing poverty,” he elaborated.
On the source of funding for these initiatives, Edun explained: “This particular money, $800 million, is under a World Bank programme.
“But it’s under an International Development Association programme, and that money is for 40 years at one per cent.
“So, if you say it is borrowing, well it is, but it is the softest and the cheapest and the most affordable form you can get. The rest will come from the federal government budget.”
The finance minister also explained the rationale for the windfall levy, stressing that its role is in redistributing unearned income.
“Where you have unearned income, where you have a section of the society or an industry or a set of companies that earn money through no dint of hard work of their own, the society deserves a chance to share some of that and it’s just redistribution of that.
“So, I think that takes care of the issue of the windfall levy. It’s done everywhere else in the world where you have, especially the energy sector as well as banking,” he noted.
Support for Enterprises
To bolster production and tackle inflation, the government has introduced several funding schemes for various enterprise sizes.
Edun said Nano enterprises will receive grants of N50,000, while small and medium enterprises can access N1 million funding at nine per cent per annum.
Larger medium-sized enterprises are eligible for up to N1 billion in financing at the same interest rate.
Additionally, import waivers and fiscal measures are being implemented to reduce costs for large companies, including eliminating withholding tax for the manufacturing sector and small businesses.
Edun highlighted the collaboration between fiscal and monetary authorities, noting how the Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office have assisted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in managing inflation.
“The government, through the Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office, took on the challenge of paying higher interest rates on our domestic debt so that we could help the central bank, one, achieve its inflation target, but more importantly, attract foreign flows into the country, which has helped the central bank to pay down virtually all of its outstanding foreign obligations,” he explained.
He clarified that the government has not relied on the central bank for financing through “ways and means” but has used market instruments to manage its debts.
“We have not gone to the central bank to say, please lend the government money to pay its debt, to pay its salaries. That’s ways and means. We have not gone.
“In fact, we have used market instruments to pay down what we owed, and that is a very, very germane aspect of having a strong economy,” he asserted.
Edun welcomed the increase in the Ways and Means limit approved by the National Assembly, describing it as a fail-safe measure.
“Sometimes it just gives that extra flexibility so that if a payment needs to be made and there’s a mistiming, there’s a gap between the time at which the revenue will come in and the expenses needed, you can just draw down briefly.
“So the aim, is to keep within the letter of the law, I think that’s the main point,” he said.
