Presidency Explains How Beneficiaries of N5000 Stipend to Poorest Nigerians were selected

The Presidency sunday said that it used the World Bank’s Community Based Targeting (CBT) model, established two years ago, to select the beneficiaries of its N5000 monthly stipends to the poorest Nigerians. The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, in a statement in Abuja said the CBT model of the World Bank had been used two years ago to identify most of the beneficiaries in the pilot states.

He said the World Bank was also an active agent in the selection process, explaining, however, that the data collected belonged to Nigeria.
Akande gave the names of the nine pilot states where the programme had started as Bauchi, Borno, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo and clarified that reference to Ogun, instead of Osun-among the pilot states- in his last press statement on the issue was an error.

He explained that in eight of the nine pilot states, the selection process had taken place at least two years ago under a programme supported by the World Bank in an agreement entered into directly with the state governments.

He said the ninth state, Borno, was added because of the situation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

According to him, the process of selecting beneficiaries is fair and transparent and without mischief.

He said: “There is no way you can describe this process as partisan. The president is president of the entire country and the Social Intervention Programmes are for all Nigerians as the case may be.”

In addition to the nine pilot States, and with the release of funds for the programmes, the CBT model has now commenced in other states.