Nigeria, Sept. 18 -- The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a meeting of the Special Presidential Panel on the Social Investment Programme.

"We are pleased to report that the social protection programme put in place as a safety net to help people cope with the rising price level is now firmly back on track," Edun said.

He explained that about 19.7 million poor and vulnerable households, representing more than 70 million individuals, are captured in the National Social Register.

From this number, 15 million households were targeted for cash transfers under the initiative, which is being funded from an 800 million dollar World Bank facility.

"So far, 8...