The Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP) has advised the federal government to pay the N20,000 palliative through Bank Verification Numbers and stop cash payments.
The federal government has commenced cash disbursement of the N20 thousand palliative to the most vulnerable Nigerians in some states, while the Presidency said that it had identified 10.7 million Nigerians who were the poorest in the 36 states.
SERAP however, said on Sunday that the money should be paid through the over 40 million Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), adding that the government should provide an updated list of beneficiaries.
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“We’ve asked the Fed. Govt. and the CBN to provide spending details on COVID-19 relief funds, donations and on school feeding, including an updated list of beneficiaries of cash payments and cash transfers in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja; to stop cash payments and pay people through the BVNs,” SERAP said in a statement.
The human right body also said in the petition that addressing the issues raised was “critical to keeping people alive, addressing inequalities and improving public trust & integrity.”
Similarly, the Group Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa, Ike Chioke, told MoneyLineWithNancy, that the cash payment was inefficient and would have so many leakages due to poor accountability.
Chioke said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could identify some vulnerable Nigerians from over 126 million Nigerians with phones with or without bank accounts and credit them with money or code which could be used to reclaim cash from any Deposit Money Bank (DMB) in the country.
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He also argued on the number of days it would take to dispense the palliative to the vulnerable people.
Chioke said, “at this point we know we don’t have the money, so we already know we will be in trouble. We need to be creative in finding cheaper and more effective way to do it.”
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