The federal government has disclosed that it will start distributing N25,000 grants to vulnerable pensioners across the country by November.

The beneficiaries of this grant, according to the FG, will be members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners captured in the expanded national social register of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme.

This was disclosed in a statement in Abuja on Thursday by Rasheed Zubair, the media aide to the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu, The Nation reports.

According to the statement, the proposed distribution of the grant was announced in a meeting with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) led by its president, Joe Ajaero, in Abuja.

The minister said, “The President mentioned very clearly that vulnerable pensioners should be immediately captured on the National Social Register and benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer, as part of the national social safety net expansion and this was made clear in his speech on Independence day where he committed N25,000 for 15million households for three months”

“I want us to fast-track this. If we can get this data and information within two weeks, we are sure that you will be beneficiaries immediately and you can start earning from next month which is November, that’s the main reason why I’m here,” she stated.

In his reaction, Mr Ajaero said he was delighted at the various poverty alleviation schemes rolled out by the ministry and the commitment of the minister, while he insisted that getting to the root cause of poverty would go a long way in addressing the problem.

“Let’s look at not only how to solve this problem, but the cause of it, if we continue to treat the effects of poverty, the problem will persist. Let us look at other social welfare interventions and job creation that will go a long way to support families,” he advised.

He also emphasised the need for the FG to provide more jobs by creating a productive economy where factories are functioning and employing workers.

On his part, the president of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, described the N25,000 grant as ‘big money to them’, but decried that some pensioners receive between N5,000 to N10,000 monthly.