FG: Over 10 million households have received N600bn cash transfers under Tinubu

The Federal Government has spent more than N600 billion on cash transfers to over 10 million Nigerian households in the three years since President Bola Tinubu took office. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Bernard Doro disclosed this on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, during Politics Today on Channels Television.

Doro said the 10 million beneficiary households could translate to roughly 40 million individuals, based on an average household size of four people. He described the payments as a deliberate push to shield Nigeria's most vulnerable citizens from economic hardship.

Minister defends N25,000 payments

Responding to criticism that individual payments are too small to change lives, Doro pushed back. He said: "N25,000 can look very small to elites, but not to the poorest of the poor."

He also said the government had rolled out a vocational skills programme that trained more than 18,000 people. Participants received starter kits, monthly stipends, and extra instruction in business management and accounting to help them set up and sustain small enterprises.

The ministry is also running a separate intervention to support smallholder farmers as part of its broader poverty reduction agenda.

Food insecurity projections

Asked about projections warning that more than 70 million people across nine conflict-affected states in northern Nigeria could face acute food insecurity, Doro urged caution. He said the figures were projections, not confirmed outcomes, and that not everyone identified in the data would necessarily suffer food shortages.

He said the Federal Government had already responded with a presidential intervention on food and nutrition covering 10 northern states, and pledged to continue monitoring conditions on the ground.

Doro said his aim is to ensure that gains at the macroeconomic level reach ordinary Nigerians. He said: "My job is to translate macroeconomic gains as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. I translate the microeconomic gains to the micro level, and you can see the traction."

FMBN housing loan scheme

In a related development, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has set out the requirements for Nigerians who want housing finance under the National Housing Fund (NHF) Mortgage Loan scheme. The scheme covers purchases, construction, home improvement, and renovation.

Eligible NHF contributors can borrow up to N50 million at an interest rate capped at 6% per annum. FMBN provides the funds to accredited Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) at 4%, and the PMBs then lend to contributors at the 6% rate.

For the naira and household budgets, the cash transfer programme and the housing loan scheme both aim to put money in the hands of ordinary Nigerians. But with the minister himself cautioning that food insecurity projections could worsen, the real test will be whether these interventions arrive fast enough and reach the people who need them most.