The Federal Government has announced that all is ready to facilitate the use of mobile phones of Nigerians in the transfer of the 15 million households’ conditional cash transfer programme.
This was revealed by the Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee chaired by Taiwo Oyedele in the “quick win” recommendations submitted to President Tinubu.
The Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee has recommended that the government engage in the use of citizens’ mobile phones to validate and ease the transfer of funds.
As part of its efforts to ameliorate the effect of the removal of subsidy, the presidency announced plans to distribute N75,000 cash transfers to 15 million households last week.
The president made this announcement in Abuja, stating that the objective is to lift as many families as possible out of poverty.
While it is not explicitly stipulated how this process will be accomplished, the report states that a national portal will also be designed to track spending by the federal, state, and local governments.
Taiwo Oyede writing on his X (Twitter) handle said,
“The main recommendations are to create a framework for spending on the removal of subsidies and windfall from the forex reform, including a national portal to monitor spending by the federal government, states, and local governments, and to facilitate the use of mobile phones for conditional cash transfers.”
Subsequently, the President has ordered that the “quick win” recommendations be immediately implemented across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.
In a press release issued after meeting the committee, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, conveyed that the President had instructed his Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, to coordinate with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Oyedele to implement the directive.
He emphasized the importance of a seamless and synchronized implementation process by instructing that the recommendations be fully incorporated across government institutions.
Furthermore, he revealed that the President committed to prioritizing the presentation of these recommendations during the next Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting scheduled for the upcoming Monday.
The statement reads “After listening to a presentation by the committee chairman, the President directed the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, to liaise with the Secretary of the Government of the Federation and the Chairman of the Tax Policy Review Committee to ensure that the recommendations of the committee are swiftly and immediately implemented across all ministries, departments, and agencies of the federal government to ensure that there is effective synergy and to ensure that every institution of the federal government is on the same page concerning how tax policy will be implemented”.
