Dr Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, has claimed that the federal government is working on a strategy to pull 50 million people out of poverty in the next 42 months.
She made this statement on Thursday while appearing in an interview with Channels TV.
Edu said that the effort will be collaborative between her ministry and other interested ministries in the country, adding that the collective effort will ensure economic growth in the country.
The minister also emphasized that the President is very deliberate in different poverty alleviation programmes to help the vulnerable in the country.
She said,
- “We are drawing out a strategy to be able to get 50 million persons out of poverty as within forty two months. Now, that is not just going to be only the job of my ministry to do. There is going to be an inter sectorial collaboration with other ministries, for instance, the ministry of trade and industries. Of course, they have the SMEs and the president has provided some loans for persons doing small little businesses across the nation.
- Government is very intentional. President Bola Tinubu is some who cares about the poor and the vulnerable in the society. He does all within his power to ensure that the pain is taken off from Nigerians.
- There are different strategies. We are working with international partners and the World Bank. What is at the back of our mind is that fifty million people would be pulled out of poverty in 42 months.”
Arrears Paid to N-Power Beneficiaries
While responding to a question on the N-Power initiative, Edu noted that the federal government has resumed payment for the beneficiaries of the programme.
She said some beneficiaries were being owed salaries by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
However, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, said the payment of arrears to beneficiaries which was started on Wednesday (yesterday) will continue until the last person is paid.
- “Presently, a payment for N-Power is ongoing; we were in the office yesterday up until the early hours of this morning, just to ensure that young people get monies which they have been owed from the last government.
- “So, N-Power beneficiaries across the nation, I am sure you can attest to the fact that you are seeing your money in your accounts and this process will continue until the last person who indeed has served is being paid.
- “And of course, all of this is being restructured to ensure that we reduce unemployment and create jobs for Nigerians,” Edu said
What you should know
- N-Power, initiated on June 8, 2016, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, was designed to combat youth unemployment and promote social development.
- After assuming office from Buhari, President Bola Tinubu temporarily suspended the program. Edu pointed out that the current government is focused on resolving issues from previous years before restarting the initiative.
- “The Renewed Hope N-Power has not been relaunched yet. We are still trying to deal with the baggage from the previous years. So, these are persons who were owed money for a few months.
- “We used to have a consultant who used to manage the payments of these monies to the N-Power beneficiaries. However, the monies were being held up with the consultants for months without paying the beneficiaries.
- “So, what the government did was to recover the money back into the government’s TSA CBN account and now started scrutiny of the beneficiaries which took us this while to do and that is why we appeal to the young people to be patient,” the minister said.