Daud Olatunji
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, has claimed that more than 10 million vulnerable Nigerians have received ₦75,000 each under the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer programme.
Yilwatda said the beneficiaries, many of whom he described as poor and vulnerable Nigerians, were largely absent from social media because they could not afford smartphones and other communication devices.
The APC chairman made the disclosure on Saturday while responding to journalists shortly after the party’s three-day National Executive Council retreat in Maiduguri, Borno State.
According to him, the Bola Tinubu administration had introduced several interventions aimed at reducing the impact of economic hardship following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
“We have given ₦75,000 to over 10 million Nigerians across the country using the conditional cash transfer under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction,” Yilwatda said.
He argued that the limited presence of beneficiaries on social media should not be interpreted to mean that government interventions had failed to reach vulnerable Nigerians.
Yilwatda said many of those benefiting from the programmes lacked access to mobile phones, television and social media platforms, making their experiences less visible in public debates about government policies.
He also listed road construction, employment generated through infrastructure projects and student loans among initiatives of the Tinubu administration.
The APC chairman said the Federal Government was undertaking road projects across the country while employing Nigerians to work on the projects.
The claim comes amid continuing public scrutiny of the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer programme, particularly over the number of beneficiaries and the amount disbursed.
In August, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, said the government had distributed more than ₦600bn through cash transfers over a three-year period, reaching slightly more than 10 million households.
The figures have, however, attracted questions from political opponents and other stakeholders.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar subsequently questioned discrepancies in the government’s reported beneficiary figures and called for greater transparency and accountability in the implementation of the programme.
Yilwatda’s latest claim adds to the debate over the scale and reach of the government’s social intervention programmes, with official figures remaining a subject of public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Yilwatda said the APC NEC retreat also reviewed the party’s structures and activities at the national, state, local government, ward and polling-unit levels ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said the review was aimed at assessing the party’s preparedness and identifying areas requiring further attention.
The APC chairman disclosed that the NEC passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and other APC candidates who emerged from the party’s primaries for the 2027 elections.
He also said the party had resolved to strengthen reconciliation efforts across its state chapters.
According to him, APC leaders in states without reconciliation committees had been encouraged to establish them to address internal disagreements and strengthen party structures.
