Nearly 90 million Nigerians are living with extreme poverty, Minister of Humanitarian and Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has stated.
The Minister, who spoke at a budget defense session of the Ministry before the House of Representatives Committee on IDPs, said the Buhari government was resolve to lift the 90 million Nigerians in extreme poverty across the country.
She also said the new ministry was committed to strengthening coordination of humanitarian and disaster management efforts by multiple stakeholders, adding that the Ministry has enormous responsibility to address some of the underlying causes, drivers and consequences of humanitarian crises and underdevelopment including: relatively high poverty of nearly half (90 million) of the country’s 198 million population live in extreme poverty.
Breakdown of the proposed budget for National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons include: N474,306,285 for personnel, N165 million for resettlement of IDPs in the North East and Bakkasi returnees in the 2020 budget proposal.
Others include: N15 million for 1,000 IDPs enrolment into NHIS; N105 million for renovation/rent of 21,000,000 per state; N60 million Back to school fees; N105 million for drilling of borehole; N184 million for securing land for relocation and reintegration of IDPs in FCT, Nasarawa States and N110 million for 2,200 families as return assistance to North East, among others.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Mohammed Jega promised to justify the confidence reposed in the Committee by Nigerians, assured that the budget will impact positively on every Nigerian both individually and collectively.
“We are therefore poised for a collaborative action with the Executive arm of government to ensure that we design a performing budget that will meet the expectations of the teeming populace,” he stated.
Jega also applauded the resolution of President Muhammadu Buhari for creating the Ministry with the view to address the numerous humanitarian challenges confronting the citizenry as a result of insurgency, arm bandits and other humanitarian challenges affecting the country.
