The National Coordinator of the Cash Transfer Office of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Dr Temitope Sinkaiye spoke yesterday with Michael Olatunji, on why the team is in Lagos and efforts to ensure the very poor and vulnerable gets their cash transfer
Why is your office in Lagos State?
The National Cash Transfer Office, which is now domiciled under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development is in Lagos State despite the lockdown to see the register of the poor and vulnerable which are yet to be enrolled into cash transfer. The need to respond quickly to COVID-19 pandemic for the poor and vulnerable made us to come despite the lockdown to be able to put in place the processes to enroll the poor and vulnerable so that they begin to transfer their cash to them and they in turn would be able to use such funds to meet their immediate needs.
Are you sure we can get this ready in the next two weeks for these people to enjoy this cash intervention?
That is what we are trying to work at. The various stakeholders are here and the officers, so that we all would be able to see how feasible it is to be able to achieve that. As we speak I cannot tell you that we will be able to finish and be able to begin the enrolment into the cash transfer. We are still working on that and the modalities and we need to consider that there is lockdown but we are trying to see how we can fast track all these process.
The state has a register of the poor and vulnerable. To the extent that they are prepared I will not be able to say, because I know there is a register in the state.
The cash transfer is for the poorest of the poor, why exclude other poor segments from the cash transfer?
The ministry of humanitarian affairs have different structured palliatives to fit all segments of the society. However, for the cash transfer which I represents, it is strictly for the poorest of the poor because these are the set of people who before now have not been able to meet their nutritional requirements and if you want to look at the whole poor, it is such a large group that no government will have the resources to address the challenge of the whole group. That is why we are starting from the lowest rung, which the most vulnerable segment of the society so that we can get them to have the means to live more quality lives.
