The Save the Children International (SCI), have urged the federal government to fully digitise it’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, in order to make the process transparent, accountable and sustainable.
The National Programme Manager, Child Development Grant Programme (CDGP), a Social protection programme under the SCI, Kayode Ajumobi, said the physical payment of cash being implemented by government increases the operational cost of the programme amid the “dwindling” government revenue and gives room for corruption.
Ajumobi, who said this in an interview with journalists during a 3-day Social Protection Awareness Training for SCI Nigeria Media Working in Kaduna, noted that some of the beneficiaries are often short changed during physical cash transfer and cannot seek redress largely because they do not know their rights.
He stressed that government needs to get rid of the cash payment , address the grievance mechanism of the programme and create more awareness.
He said, “Just getting rid of the physical cash payment and fully digitising the cash transfer programme and making sure that everybody that is a beneficiary gets the cash paid into their account without having to travel long distances, queue up for hours will hel boost transparency in the programme.
“The grievance redress mechanism needs to be properly strengthened. Some individuals recieve less than N5,000 and they are not aware of the opportunity to seek redress. Some of them who know, are afraid to speak out for fear that they may get taken off the programme. Not every citizen knows that benefitting from this programme is a right. Government needs to create awareness, strengthen redress mechanism and boost transparency and accountability in the sector.”
Ajumobi, however commended government for running the largest cash transfer programme being implemented in Africa, with about 30 million individuals benefiting from it.
CDGP, is a Foreign Commonwealth and Develop Office (FCDO) funded social protection programme, implemented by SCI and Action Against Hunger that commenced in Nigeria in 2014. During its first phase, the progamme was positioned as a “Cash Plus for Nutrition”, aimed at contributing to the reduction of the high malnutrition levels in Northern Nigeria, by targeting and providing cash-transfer to pregnant women and women with children under the age of two years, in selected communities of Zamfara and Jigawa states.
Since the commencement of its second phase of implementation in 2019, CDGP has continued to collaborate with the government of Nigeria at the national and state-levels (across its four focal states of implementation), strengthen its social protection systems.
The programme has continued to support the Government to strengthen policy and legislation, support the design and delivery of social protection programmes, and work with civil society and the media to stimulate political will and promote accountability.
The 3-day social protection awareness training was designed to provide participants with insight into the subject matter of social protection in general, and a special focus of the sector in Nigeria, and deepen their capacity for more sensitive social protection news reporting and media coverage.
