The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has directed the immediate termination of the contract for a Payment Service Provider (PSP) namely Data Mining Company and Innovative for failure to meet the contractual agreement to commence Conditional Cash Transfer to beneficiaries in four states of the federation assigned to the PSP.
The affected states are Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom in the South South, Abia in the South East and Zamfara in the North West.
The immediate termination of the contract would be with the guidance of the World Bank, and a new procurement process launched using World Bank procurement guidelines to ensure that payments commence in the affected states on or before April 28, 2020.
In a statement signed by her Special Assistant on media, Salisu Na’inna Dambatta, and made available to Blueprint, Tuesday, the minister said that the federal government cannot accept delays in the current payment round of N20,000 stipends to beneficiaries in poor and vulnerable households under any excuses in the four states or any other states of the federation.
“The failure of any payment service providers to meet their contractual agreement is unacceptable. The Federal Government through the Ministry cannot allow contractors to derail the immediate Conditional cash transfers to the poor and the vulnerable,” she said.
