FG Explains Procedure for Accessing N50,000 Relief Grant
The Federal Government has outlined the steps through which selected poor and vulnerable households across the country can receive the ₦50,000 cash grant under its National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention (NERSI).
The initiative, being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, is designed to cushion the effects of rising living costs on vulnerable Nigerians through direct cash transfers.
According to the government, the funds will be disbursed through approved payment platforms, including ALAT, MoMo, NairaGram, OPay and Moniepoint.
The government explained that beneficiaries would be identified through verified National Identity records and the National Social Register. It emphasised that the programme does not require individuals to submit applications independently or pay any fee to qualify.
Under the disbursement process, selected beneficiaries will receive text messages from any of the approved payment providers informing them of their selection. They are expected to respond with the word “YES” to indicate their consent to receive the grant.
Following confirmation, a mobile wallet will automatically be created and linked to the beneficiary’s registered phone number and National Identification Number (NIN), after which the ₦50,000 will be credited to the account.
Beneficiaries can access their funds through Point of Sale (POS) agents, banks or by making direct payments from their mobile wallets. Additional instructions will also be sent through SMS once the money has been credited.
The Federal Government further provided the following USSD codes for beneficiaries who wish to withdraw their funds: ALAT users can dial 94523#, MoMo PSB customers *6710#, NairaGram users *72600#, while OPay customers can use 95520# or its mobile application. Moniepoint beneficiaries can access the service through 557327# or the bank’s application.
Meanwhile, the government has cautioned Nigerians against fraudsters seeking to exploit the intervention, warning beneficiaries not to pay anyone for access to the grant or disclose confidential banking information.
It stated that authentic notifications would only originate from ALAT, MoMo, NairaGram, OPay or Moniepoint and would require recipients only to confirm their participation by replying “YES” or follow the designated USSD instructions.
The government stressed that legitimate messages would never request beneficiaries’ ATM PINs, One-Time Passwords (OTPs), passwords, payments or ask them to click suspicious links.
Recipients were consequently advised to keep their banking credentials confidential, ignore messages from unauthorised sources and contact the programme’s helpline whenever they have doubts about the authenticity of a notification.
The government also clarified that the NERSI intervention is a non-repayable relief grant and not a loan, assuring selected beneficiaries that the entire ₦50,000 would be paid without deductions.
On data protection, it explained that beneficiaries’ phone numbers were sourced from the National Social Register and verified national identity records and made available to payment providers strictly for the purpose of facilitating the disbursement.
It added that personal information collected under the programme would be used exclusively for implementing the intervention.
