The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Millennium Development Goals has appointed Ecobank Nigeria as a partner in its Conditional Cash Transfer scheme aimed at assisting indigent and less-privileged families with monthly social subventions.

The scheme, according to a statement from Ecobank, is part of the Federal Government's MDG-assisted projects ahead of the 2015 deadline.

The programme, which is planned to run in 12 months cycles, will have funds disbursed to over 56,000 households in 600 communities in the first phase.

It is part of the countdown strategy of the MDG office, according to the bank.

The money, the bank stressed, would be disbursed through mobile money.

The statement noted that the move showed Nigeria's determination to achieve the MDGs objectives.

 The Federal Government is providing the sum of N187.5m for each of the 24 benefiting states, while the states are providing a matching grant of an equal amount.

According to the statement, this means that each state will receive a total sum of N375m.

The states selected for this phase are Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe and the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the Managing Director, Ecobank, Mr. Jibril Aku, the bank already has N6.2bn in its coffers ready for disbursement through the Ecobank Mobile Money platform.

Aku said N5,000 would be disbursed monthly for 12 months into the beneficiaries' wallets, while a bulk sum of N100,000 would be paid to each beneficiary at the end of the programme as an exit strategy.

He explained that the Ecobank Mobile Money wallets would be created for the beneficiaries and disbursement of funds into the wallets would be based on the OSSAP-MDGs' instructions and notification sent to the beneficiaries.

Aku said the bank had deployed agent points in 600 communities/local government areas across the 24 states and that product education as well as customer support services to the beneficiaries were already ongoing.

The statement said, "The countdown strategy as a catalytic policy of attaining the MDGs in the country, is closely linked with the government's transformation agenda; the motive force for socio-economic transformation with the focus of making Nigeria one of the leading economies in the world by year 2020."

"The transformation agenda recognises that investments in infrastructure, energy, roads, human development, security, law and order, development of the Niger Delta, will boost economic growth and productivity and will also be critical to meeting the target of the MDGs.

"It is important to note that the MDGs formed key development priorities in the first National Implementation Plan of the vision"