Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

The Nigerian government introduced the Household Upliftment Program (HUP) which is a conditional cash transfer scheme to help households improve consumption levels, reduce poverty and therefore prevent vulnerable households from becoming poorer. This paper investigated the impact of Condition Cash T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Otu W Ibok, Iniobong E Okon, Oscar P Akpan, Imefon F Isip
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325594
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849329487371567104
author Otu W Ibok
Iniobong E Okon
Oscar P Akpan
Imefon F Isip
author_facet Otu W Ibok
Iniobong E Okon
Oscar P Akpan
Imefon F Isip
author_sort Otu W Ibok
collection DOAJ
description The Nigerian government introduced the Household Upliftment Program (HUP) which is a conditional cash transfer scheme to help households improve consumption levels, reduce poverty and therefore prevent vulnerable households from becoming poorer. This paper investigated the impact of Condition Cash Transfer of HUP on household food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The objectives were to assess the impact of CCT on protecting the beneficiary's basic level of food consumption from becoming food insecure and also determine if CCT of HUP facilitate the beneficiary to invest in human and other productive assets. The paper utilized descriptive statistics, food security index, Likert scale and propensity score technique to analyse the research objectives. The findings showed that on average, benefitting and non-benefitting households spent about N31,917.78 ($76.46) and N34,898.67 ($83.60) respectively on food per month. Food insecurity was higher among benefiting households compared to non-benefiting households. The Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) estimator value was -0.2610. The negative value suggests that, on average, benefiting households spend 26.10% less on food consumption than non-benefitting households. The results imply that the current cash transfer program may not be effectively addressing food insecurity among beneficiaries. However, the CCT program facilitated the beneficiaries' ability to invest in human and productive assets, enhanced their financial and social inclusion, opened doors to financial services previously inaccessible to many and fostered a sense of community among them. The paper concludes that while conditional cash transfer programs have the potential to positively impact beneficiaries, the government must reassess and potentially adjust the program to better address the current inflationary pressures and ensure its positive impact on the food security of the beneficiaries.
format Article
id doaj-art-3e54953ecb6f4ef9a0578ad4de003c3b
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-3e54953ecb6f4ef9a0578ad4de003c3b2025-08-20T03:47:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01206e032559410.1371/journal.pone.0325594Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.Otu W IbokIniobong E OkonOscar P AkpanImefon F IsipThe Nigerian government introduced the Household Upliftment Program (HUP) which is a conditional cash transfer scheme to help households improve consumption levels, reduce poverty and therefore prevent vulnerable households from becoming poorer. This paper investigated the impact of Condition Cash Transfer of HUP on household food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The objectives were to assess the impact of CCT on protecting the beneficiary's basic level of food consumption from becoming food insecure and also determine if CCT of HUP facilitate the beneficiary to invest in human and other productive assets. The paper utilized descriptive statistics, food security index, Likert scale and propensity score technique to analyse the research objectives. The findings showed that on average, benefitting and non-benefitting households spent about N31,917.78 ($76.46) and N34,898.67 ($83.60) respectively on food per month. Food insecurity was higher among benefiting households compared to non-benefiting households. The Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) estimator value was -0.2610. The negative value suggests that, on average, benefiting households spend 26.10% less on food consumption than non-benefitting households. The results imply that the current cash transfer program may not be effectively addressing food insecurity among beneficiaries. However, the CCT program facilitated the beneficiaries' ability to invest in human and productive assets, enhanced their financial and social inclusion, opened doors to financial services previously inaccessible to many and fostered a sense of community among them. The paper concludes that while conditional cash transfer programs have the potential to positively impact beneficiaries, the government must reassess and potentially adjust the program to better address the current inflationary pressures and ensure its positive impact on the food security of the beneficiaries.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325594
spellingShingle Otu W Ibok
Iniobong E Okon
Oscar P Akpan
Imefon F Isip
Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
PLoS ONE
title Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
title_full Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
title_fullStr Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
title_full_unstemmed Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
title_short Impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
title_sort impact of conditional cash transfer on households food security in akwa ibom state nigeria
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325594
work_keys_str_mv AT otuwibok impactofconditionalcashtransferonhouseholdsfoodsecurityinakwaibomstatenigeria
AT iniobongeokon impactofconditionalcashtransferonhouseholdsfoodsecurityinakwaibomstatenigeria
AT oscarpakpan impactofconditionalcashtransferonhouseholdsfoodsecurityinakwaibomstatenigeria
AT imefonfisip impactofconditionalcashtransferonhouseholdsfoodsecurityinakwaibomstatenigeria