Minister of Communication and Digital Economy says the beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s palliatives are those whose monthly top-up is ₦300 and below.
He said the government embarked on the palliatives-sharing exercise following the hardship citizens are facing as a result of the lockdown and restriction of movements in some states.
The Minister made this known in an interview with PRNigeria.
He said through data mining process facilitated by SIM card registration, the federal government was able to identify persons who direly need government’s support and also detected their poverty level.
“Through data mining, we have discovered those that need urgent intervention when it comes to feeding, and also meeting other basic necessities of life,” he said.
Mr Pantami, who said the government budgeted huge amount of money to cater for the poor and vulnerable who have been hit by the lockdown, noted:
“The federal government has been assisting many poor citizens on a weekly basis. Sometimes, our officials directly distribute food packages to their homes. And one of the most effective way we used to identify very poor persons is by looking at how much they top-up their mobile lines every month. There are those whose monthly top-up is less than 1 dollar, or let me say, N300. And with this, we were able to categorize their poverty level, see what they need, and how government can assist them.”
