The Buhari administration has not spent N500 billion annually on social investment programmes for Nigerians as it has led the public to believe, as that claim has not been cash-backed, the government has confirmed.

The government announced the initiative in 2015 as it came into office, and in last week’s response to American billionaire, Bill Gate’s criticism of the government’s low spending on human capital, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the yearly N500 billion social investment package was the biggest in sub-saharan Africa, and unprecedented in Nigeria.

“…We also decided to put in place an audacious Social Investment Programme to the tune of N500 billion, the largest pro-poor programme in our nation’s history, and the largest social safety net, at least in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Mr Osinbajo said at the Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos March 29.

The government claims more than 7.4 million primary school pupils in 22 states have been fed, while almost 300,000 poor Nigerians are also receiving N5000 monthly cash transfer. It said almost 300,000 Nigerians benefited from micro-credit loans of between N10, 000 to N100,000.

The figures have not been independently verified.

But if implemented as it repeatedly claims, at least N1 trillion would have been expended between 2016 and 2017 when the government fully administered the national budget. The amount would be more if a part of 2015, when the SIP started, is considered. In announcing this purported achievement, administration officials often cite the government’s ability to do so despite low oil receipts and generally dwindling revenues.