BY AHMED AKANBI
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said that more than 10 million vulnerable Nigerians have received N75,000 each under the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer scheme.
He said the beneficiaries are largely absent from social media because they cannot afford phones.
Yilwatda stated this on Saturday in Maiduguri, Borno State while briefing journalists after the party’s three-day National Executive Council, NEC retreat.
He said the Tinubu administration has introduced several measures to cushion the hardship from fuel subsidy removal.
According to him, the cash transfer was implemented through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.
”We have given 75,000 naira to over 10 million Nigerians across the country using the conditional cash transfer,” he said.
He argued that because beneficiaries lack access to phones, television and social media, their experiences rarely feature in public debate about government policies.
The APC national chairman listed road construction, jobs linked to infrastructure projects and student loans as other interventions.
Yilwatda’s comments come amid questions over the programme’s transparency.
In August, Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Bernard Doro said over N600 billion had been disbursed in three years to just over 10 million households, a figure former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged.
The APC chairman said the NEC retreat reviewed party structures from national to polling unit levels ahead of the 2027 elections and passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and candidates who emerged from the primaries.
He said the party resolved to strengthen reconciliation in state chapters and to actively communicate the government’s achievements as it prepares for electioneering.