Headline

99.9% Households Yet To Receive FG’s Cash Transfer – W’Bank

Published

1 year ago

December 17, 2023

Editor

The World Bank has reported that approximately 99.9% of targeted poor and vulnerable households are yet to receive the Federal Government’s recently announced N25,000 per month cash handout.

According to The Times, data from the World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, was presented last week in Abuja during the Nigeria Development Update, December 2023 edition.

The Federal Government intends to provide cash transfers to low-income households, paying N25,000 per month for three months, according to his presentation material.

President Bola Tinubu introduced the Conditional Cash Transfer Program on October 17, 2023, with funding support of $800 million from the World Bank.

This program intends to assist 15 million Nigerian households that make less than N75,000 per month and are considered poor, near-poor, or vulnerable.

However, Sienaert revealed that the program is anticipated to reach 5 million households by the end of December, with 1.5 million households having received money thus far.

“Merely 0.1% of the anticipated families have received payment, as only 1.5 million of the targeted 15 million households have been paid for.”

This indicates that even with the extreme poverty in the country, 99.9% of the targets have not received their monthly N25,000 cash transfers.

Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately affected by the removal of fuel subsidies and other recent policies, despite the fact that they would substantially gain from a monthly cash transfer system that the Federal Government intends to fund with the World Bank loan.

Less than 1% of the poor and vulnerable individuals may not be eligible for the Federal Government’s cash distribution program, according to information previously released by the World Bank,.

Twenty percent of people possessing a valid national ID number from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) were supposed to be registered in the National Social Registry by June 30, 2022.

But as of December 31, 2022, just 0.10 percent of Nigerians listed as completely impoverished and vulnerable possessed a NIN.

This indicates that roughly only 9,670 of the 9.67 million (9,666,420) project beneficiaries are NIN holders.

In his presentation, the World Bank Lead Economist for Nigeria emphasized the part that NIN plays in the cash distribution program.

“To increase the use and coverage of the national identity number, beneficiaries will be encouraged to enrol for the NIN during the verification process.”

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Central Bank of Nigeria recently declared that, as of April 2024, all bank accounts that do not have a BVN and NIN will be set to “Post no Debit.”

Additionally, the apex bank declared that every BVN or NIN linked to and/or connected to accounts or wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.

The CBN claimed that this action is an effort to support national financial stability.

Headline

Israeli Strikes Kill 13 In Gaza

Published

1 hour ago

June 7, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 13 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting incident near a US-backed aid distribution centre in the territory’s south.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout” in southern Gaza’s Rafah area.

Gazans have massed at Al-Alam almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid at a centre about one kilometre (0.6 miles) away, operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incident, the latest deadly fire near the Al-Alam aid point.

The GHF began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF over neutrality concerns, has warned that Gaza’s entire population of more than two million people was at risk of starvation.

In the territory’s north early Saturday, Bassal said seven people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a house near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

AFP

Headline

Russian Strikes Kill Five In Ukraine

Published

1 hour ago

June 7, 2025

Editor

Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles, drones and bombs across Ukraine early Saturday, killing five people in a major attack that the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, described as unprecedented.

Russian forces have accelerated attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, with the Kremlin vowing to retaliate over a brazen attack on its air bases last weekend.

In Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov counted 48 Iranian-made drones, two missiles and four guided bombs before dawn in the city of some 1.4 million residents located less than 50 kilometres from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine..

“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war,” Terekhov posted on Telegram around 4:40 am (0140 GMT), adding that drones were still buzzing overhead.

The Russian strikes pummelled homes and apartment blocks, killing at least three people and wounding 17 more, the mayor said. A woman was also pulled alive from the rubble of a high-rise building.

Kharkiv region Governor Oleg Synegubov said the wounded included two children.

“Medical personnel are providing the necessary assistance,” he wrote.

The northeastern city was already reeling from an attack on Thursday that wounded at least 18 people, including four children.

In the southern port city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed a couple and damaged two high-rise buildings, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

And in Dnipro, two women, aged 45 and 88, were injured in strikes, according to local officials.

Rescuers in the western city of Lutsk, near the Polish border, meanwhile discovered a second fatality from Friday’s strikes, describing the victim as a woman in her 20s.

The aerial bombardments come days after Ukraine launched a brazen attack well beyond the frontlines, damaging nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases and prompting vows of revenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.

But Russia, which now controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, has repeatedly rejected such offers to end its three-year war.

The Kremlin said on Friday the Ukraine war was “existential” for Russia.

– Ceasefire hopes dim –

The comments are Moscow’s latest to dampen hopes for a breakthrough amid a flurry of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as well as telephone calls between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping the fighting.

“For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to remarks by Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children.

Ahead of the talks this week in Istanbul, an audacious Ukrainian drone attack damaged nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases, including thousands of kilometres behind the front lines in Siberia.

Putin had told Trump he would retaliate for the brazen operation, 18 months in the planning, in which Ukraine smuggled more than 100 small drones into Russia, parked them near Russian air bases and unleashed them in a coordinated attack.

Putin has issued a host of sweeping demands on Ukraine if it wants to halt the fighting.

They include completely pulling troops out of four regions claimed by Russia, but which its army does not fully control, an end to Western military support, and a ban on Ukraine joining NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the demands as old ultimatums, questioned the purpose of more such talks and called for a summit to be attended by him, Putin and Trump.

AFP

Headline

Trump Puts His Tesla Car Up For Sale As Feud With Elon Musk Escalates

Published

6 hours ago

June 7, 2025

Editor

A bright red Tesla Model S is now for sale at the White House — the most visible symbol yet of the fractured relationship between President Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

According to a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to comment publicly, Trump made the decision to sell the vehicle less than 24 hours after a public clash with Musk.

The car, acquired by the president in March and regularly seen parked on West Executive Avenue, appears to be among the first material casualties of their soured alliance.

For years, Trump criticized electric vehicles, often claiming they were too expensive and lacked sufficient range.

In 2023, he declared online that the cars should “ROT IN HELL.”

That stance shifted after Trump and Musk forged an unlikely partnership. Musk contributed around $275 million to Trump’s 2024 re-election effort and was tapped to lead a major initiative to downsize the federal workforce.

In March, with Tesla under fire over Musk’s new political role, the two held an event at the White House showcasing Tesla models.

Musk touted the Cybertruck as “bulletproof.” Trump, pointing to a red Model S, said: “That kind.” He got it.

Trump later remarked that the Secret Service would not allow him to drive it and that the car would remain at the White House for staff use.

He stated he would pay by check — around $80,000 — and declined any discounts. A White House spokesperson confirmed the vehicle was purchased “at a market rate.”

While executive branch employees are generally barred from endorsing commercial products, those rules do not apply to the president.

Trump maintained that his gesture was merely to support Musk.

On March 11, several Tesla vehicles were delivered to the South Grounds of the White House, shortly after Musk signaled his intent to donate $100 million to Trump-aligned political groups.

(New York Times)