The federal government will disburse N368 billion ($800 million) for poor and vulnerable Nigerians in 2023 if the National Assembly approves the budget for the National Social Investment scale-up.
A huge part of the funds would be shared as cash for poor Nigerians who would be pre-qualified by the government.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, stated this at the weekend in Abuja when she hosted the World Bank Group Executive Director, for Angola, Nigeria and South Africa, Madam Ayanda Dlodlo.
The minister said the $800 million social investment net for 2023 approved by the World Bank is a scale-up for the previous interventions in that space.
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“There is already a programme for the expansion of the social safety net programme. We call it the National Social Investment Scale-up. It has been approved by the World Bank and the Federal Executive Council. It is provided for in the 2023 Appropriation Act. All we need is the National Assembly’s approval for it to become effective,” she stated.
Commenting, Dlodlo said she was in Nigeria to access the level of success of some World Bank interventions.
“I visited a few projects in Nigeria. One was the electrification project of a rural community and the other is the social security net that Nigeria has been working on. I also visited the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).
“What I saw in the projects is that they are catalysts for growth and development for various communities and individuals at a personal level,” she said.
