The Federal Government has commenced the disbursement of N50,000 cash relief to vulnerable Nigerians under its National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention,NERSI.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, announced the commencement of the programme in an October 30 statement sighted by PUNCH Online on Tuesday, describing it as a presidential initiative to provide immediate financial relief to vulnerable Nigerians.
Doro said the intervention was designed to cushion the effects of rising food prices and the high cost of essential goods on households.
He said “Under this intervention, eligible beneficiaries will receive ₦50,000 monthly, providing direct assistance to help meet essential needs and ease the burden of living costs,” .
He added that the initiative would be reviewed regularly in response to changes in the cost of living, with beneficiaries to be notified before any adjustments.
The minister said the ministry was working with licensed digital financial service providers to ensure the funds were delivered securely and transparently.
“Beneficiaries will receive an SMS from one of these providers asking for their consent. This message is genuine. Once consent is given, payment is made directly to the beneficiary’s account/mobile wallet,” he stated.
The approved providers and their USSD codes are ALAT by Wema (*945*23#), MoMo PSB (*671*0#), NairaGram (*726*00#), OPay (*955*20#) and Moniepoint (*557*327#).
Meanwhile, the Youth Economic Intervention and De-radicalisation Programme (YEIDEP), in a Facebook post, on Tuesday said payments under NERSI were ongoing, with beneficiaries receiving notifications through their registered phone numbers.
The programme also advised those who had not received text messages but whose eligibility status showed “NOT SELECTED” to remain patient and wait for the next batch.
“Those who have not received an SMS but checked their status and saw ‘NOT SELECTED’ should remain patient and wait for the next batch,” the post stated.
However, the post did not guarantee that everyone whose status showed “NOT SELECTED” would receive the grant in a subsequent batch.
Doro said beneficiaries were not required to apply, pay any fee or register through an agent to receive the support.
He warned Nigerians against fraudsters, urging them not to share their personal identification numbers or Bank Verification Numbers with anyone.
Meanwhile, ActionAid Nigeria has called on the government to show more transparency and accountability in the implementation of this initiative.
In a statement made available to VDCInsights and signed by the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu said while the initiative was a weelcome deevlopemnt but some issues remained unexplained.
Issues like the sources of funding, was it budgeted for in the 2026 Appropriation Act , was it borrowed and what is the duration of the programme, whether a one off stuff or a monthly stipend?
Mamedu argued that the government owe Nigerians this explanation and even more like the beneficiaries, and how they were chosen.
