The Federal Government has deployed Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to identify the poorest Nigerians in rural communities for its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, according to Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda.

Speaking during an interview on Arise News, Yilwatda revealed that over 5.8 million Nigerian households, representing approximately 29 million individuals, have benefited from the program within six months of President Bola Tinubu's directive to transfer funds only to verified accounts.

"AI was used to generate the list of people who are poor within the community using their varied telephone numbers, and AI was also used to generate an additional 6.5 million who are urban poor, which was then added to the social register," the Minister explained.

Yilwatda dismissed claims that the N75,000 disbursed to beneficiaries was insufficient to make meaningful impact. According to him, research conducted in collaboration with the World Bank found that 18% of recipients were able to establish their own businesses with the funds.

"I'm from a rural community. If you meet a rural farmer and give him N75 thousand, because we also did research by the World Bank, we discovered that up to 18% of the people who received this amount were able to start a business of their own," he stated.

The Minister further disclosed that the government has now validated the social register for both urban and rural poor Nigerians, which currently stands at 19.7 million people.

The Conditional Cash Transfer program represents one of the Federal Government's initiatives to alleviate poverty and provide financial support to vulnerable Nigerians amid ongoing economic challenges.