The National Cash Transfer Programme also known as Household Uplifting Programme (HUP) is one of the social safety nets programmes anchored by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The programme commenced in September, 2016. It was conceived as part of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s (FGN) larger growth and social inclusion strategies aimed at addressing key social concerns in the country.
It is a component of National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP) which is supported by the World Bank, to provide financial support to targeted poor and vulnerable Nigerian households.
The programme is focused on responding to deficiencies in capacity and lack of investment in human capital, especially amongst our poorest citizens. Beneficiaries of the programme are mined from the National Social Register (NSR), comprising State Social Registers (SR) of poor and vulnerable households. The SRs are being developed with the training, supervision and guidance from the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office in Abuja.
The programme is designed to deliver timely and accessible cash transfers to beneficiary households and sets to support development objectives and priorities, to achieve specific outcomes as outlined below:
- Improve household consumption.
- Increase in utilization of health and nutrition services.
- Improve school enrolment and attendance.
- Improve environmental sanitation and management.
- Encourage household financial and asset acquisition.
- Engage beneficiaries in sustainable livelihood.
The programme has 3 components which are as follows:
- Base Cash Transfer
- Top-Up based on State selected conditions and
- Livelihood support
Overall Management Responsibilities for NCTO
- Provide technical support and stakeholder engagement.
- Facilitate beneficiaries’ enrolment and issue programme card to beneficiaries.
- Support capacity building of states and LGAs to deliver training and sensitization by developing training materials and training of trainers.
- Integrate the Payment Service Providers (PSPs) into the systems developed under NASSP (these are the NSR, MIS, and financial management (FM) systems).
- Provide effective coordination for the payment system.
- Provide technical and financial support to SCTUs and LGAs to carry out their responsibilities.
- Conduct performance assessment, review and reporting.
- Liaise with MDAs and Civil Societies Organizations to support delivery.
- Provide framework for the co-responsibilities for state selection.
- Facilitate beneficiaries training, coaching and mentoring.
- Monitor the progress of activities at state levels to ensure conformity to plans and standards.
- Provide grievance redress hub and ensure that grievances emerging from states are investigated and addressed.
- Establish and implement system to minimize fraud, error and corruption
- Engage and supervise payment service providers.
- Disburse Cash Transfers to beneficiaries.
State Implementation
While NCTO’s mandate is to deliver the targeted cash transfer across the country, the actual implementation happens at the state level through the State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU). SCTU manages and coordinates the targeted cash transfer and livelihood intervention. Each local government area establishes a cash transfer team to implement activities at the community level.
To Read More, visit the official website of National Cash Transfer Programme www.ncto.gov.ng