In a two-room apartment in Agege, Lagos, Mrs. Adeyemi does the same calculation every Sunday evening. Rice: ₦95,000 per bag. Transport for her husband's danfo runs. School levies for three children. The numbers have not added up for months.
Then her neighbour mentioned it: "FG is paying ₦25,000 every month — have you checked if your name is there?" Mrs. Adeyemi had heard the news on the radio, but like millions of Nigerians, she had no idea how it actually worked — or whether her family was included. This is her story, and the guide she wishes she'd had.
The rumour at the borehole
It started, as most Nigerian news does, at the community borehole. "They said if you have NIN, the money will come." "My cousin in Ilorin said she got alert twice." "Somebody said you must pay ₦2,000 to register your name." Every version was different; every version was confident.
Mrs. Adeyemi's husband, a commercial driver, was sceptical. "Government money that nobody applies for? How will they know we exist?" It was a fair question — and it gets to the heart of how this programme actually works.
The ₦25,000 monthly cash transfer targets 15 million households. But unlike most government programmes, there is no application form, no portal, no "click here to apply." Households are pulled from the National Social Register — a database built through community enumeration exercises across wards and LGAs.
The NIN revelation
The family's breakthrough came from an unlikely source: their 19-year-old son, Tunde, who had registered for his NIN during the JAMB season. "Mummy, everything government now is NIN," he said. He was right.
The National Identification Number is the key that unlocks the register. During enumeration, officials record household details against the NIN of the household head. Payments are then disbursed to BVN-verified bank accounts or mobile wallets linked to that identity.
Mrs. Adeyemi had never enrolled for a NIN. Neither had her husband. That single missing piece — a free 20-minute enrolment at a NIMC centre — was standing between her family and the register. The following Saturday, they both went.
The scam that almost worked
Two weeks later, a well-dressed young man came to their street claiming to be "registering people for the FG ₦25,000." His price: ₦2,000 per household, "for data processing." Several neighbours paid.
Mrs. Adeyemi nearly did too — until Tunde intervened. He had read (on a page like this one) the single most important fact about the programme: enrolment is FREE. Always. Anyone demanding payment is running a scam.
This cannot be overstated. Across Nigeria, fraudsters exploit every new government programme. The cash transfer has no agents, no registration fees, no "express processing." If someone asks for money to add your name, walk away and report them to the authorities.
What the Adeyemis did — and what you should do
Here is the family's actual checklist, the one that cost them nothing but time. First, every adult in the household enrolled for NIN at the NIMC centre (free). Second, Mrs. Adeyemi opened a basic savings account and linked her BVN — the account the payment would land in.
Third, they visited their ward councillor's office to ask when the next enumeration exercise would capture their street, and confirmed their household details were on file. Fourth, they used the eligibility checker on this page to confirm they ticked the boxes: NIN, register capture, BVN-linked account.
Three months later, the first alert came: ₦25,000. Mrs. Adeyemi cried at the POS terminal. It did not solve everything — no single transfer could — but the rice bag for the month was covered, and for the first time in a long while, the Sunday calculation balanced.
Your household's path is the same: NIN first, bank account second, confirm your register status third. Start with the checker above, then follow the steps. And remember — never pay anyone for what is free.