Some vulnerable Nigerians have started receiving financial support from the Federal Government as payment of the N50,000 monthly cash relief under the National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention, NERSI, has commenced.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, announced the development in a statement dated October 30, describing the intervention as a presidential initiative aimed at providing immediate financial assistance to vulnerable households.
According to the minister, the programme is designed to ease the financial pressure on households struggling with rising food prices and the increasing cost of essential goods.
“Beneficiaries will receive N50,000 monthly, and the intervention will be reviewed regularly in response to changes in the cost of living. Beneficiaries will be notified ahead of any adjustments to the payments,” Doro said.
He said the ministry is working with licensed digital financial service providers to ensure the money reaches beneficiaries securely and transparently.
He explained that eligible Nigerians would receive text messages from the approved providers requesting their consent before payments are made directly into their bank accounts or mobile wallets.
The approved providers and their USSD codes are ALAT by Wema (94523#), MoMo PSB (6710#), NairaGram (72600#), OPay (95520#) and Moniepoint (557327#).
Meanwhile, the Youth Economic Intervention and De-radicalisation Programme, YEIDEP, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, also confirmed that payments under NERSI were ongoing, with beneficiaries receiving notifications through their registered phone numbers.
The programme urged those who had not received text messages but checked their eligibility status and saw “NOT SELECTED” to remain patient and await the next batch, though it did not guarantee that everyone with the status would eventually receive payment.
Doro clarified that beneficiaries are not required to submit applications, pay fees or register through agents to access the relief.
He warned Nigerians to beware of fraudsters and avoid sharing their personal identification numbers or Bank Verification Numbers with anyone.
He advised anyone uncertain about a message or approached by someone demanding money to contact the official NERSI helpline on 0700-022-2222.