From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

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The Presidency has explained that contrary to the allegation of partisanship, beneficiaries of the N5,000 Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) had been selected before May 29, 2015 with the exception of Borno State, which was done recently.
According to the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Community-Based Targeting (CBT) model of the World Bank was used two years ago to identify most of the beneficiaries in the nine pilot states.
Akande, who stressed that  the World Bank was also an active agent in the entire process, added that the data collected by the bank belongs to Nigeria.
The presidential media aide also said beneficiaries in the nine pilot states are already receiving the N5,000 monthly stipend and listed the states to include  Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo.
He gave an update on the Social Investment Programmes (SIP), and added that, “there is no way anyone can describe the selection of the CCT beneficiaries as partisan as the beneficiaries from eight of the nine pilot states were picked even before this administration came into office.”
Akande also explained that the beneficiaries were identified and verified by federal officials, in collaboration with states and local government officials and added that, the CBT team were trained on how to conduct Focus Group Discussions at community level. “These focus groups comprise women, men, youths, as the community determines,” said Akande.
He explained further that  the CBT teams, after training, are sent to each of their communities to sensitise leaders, including traditional rulers, on the CBT process and the necessity for objectivity and openness in the process.
“At that meeting, they firm up a date to convene a community meeting at a designated location within the community.
“On the set date, discussions are held in the local languages, using terminologies that resonate in that community. The CBT team will explain to the community the purpose of the gathering, that is, to determine the parameters of poverty upon which persons can be described as poor and vulnerable within the context of that community. The CBT teams will then engage each group (men, women and youths) in the conversation around the criteria and parameters for determining the poorest people. The groups would then be encouraged to identify those households that fall within the criteria…”
‘That the community itself determines, and told that the information is required for government’s planning purposes”.
According to Akande, the process was used in eight of the nine pilot States, two years ago under a programme supported by the World Bank under an Agreement entered into directly with the State Governments, on the YESSO project.
“The ninth state is Borno, which was added because of the IDP situation, with the list of the beneficiaries that has been verified by SEMA.
“This is an entirely fair and transparent process and short of mischief, there is no way you can describe this process as partisan. The President is President of the entire country and the SIPs are for all Nigerians as the case may be,” he said.
Akande said  with the release of funds for the programmes, the CBT model has now commenced in other States.
“The States have been updated on the requirements for the engagement by the Federal team and once the lists from States are enumerated, their details are uploaded onto a server at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, which hosts the electronic platform that validates all the payments of the FG for the SIPs.
“Banks have been informed that payments must be at community level, so those banks engaged for the pilot stage have in turn engaged several payment agents, to ensure cash-out to the beneficiaries in their places of residence which are distant to the bank locations,” he said.