Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, has stated that a staggering 8.3 million Nigerians require urgent humanitarian assistance in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
Edu added that this figure is part of the 16 million Nigerians affected by diverse humanitarian crises, with these three states being the hardest hit.
In addition to the North-East, Dr. Betta Edu mentioned that Benue in the North/Central region has been designated as the epicenter of humanitarian crises in Nigeria by the United Nations.
“We have a huge task on our hands, as we speak now, over 16m Nigerians are affected by humanitarian crises either man-made or natural disaster with over 8.3m of them based in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.”
”Several states in the North Central; and others spread across the country.”
“The UN said Benue had become the humanitarian need capital in Nigeria, and as such, a lot of work needs to be done in the humanitarian angle,” she said.
“The president is coming up with a very robust program to lift Nigerians out of poverty. “Our work is to see how we can get those in poverty out and those at the verge of getting into poverty increase to social safety to protect them from falling into poverty.”
“In a couple of weeks, we will be fully launching into this plans to take out over 136 million Nigerians out of poverty as implementation has started to help cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.”
“We will be working with the World Bank while seeking approval from the President to begin the Conditional Cash Transfer to Nigerians.”
”We will also work with all tiers of government as well as various communities to identify persons eligible for the scheme.” she added.
The minister also pledged to enhance, revamp, and broaden the social safety net program, ensuring that more individuals are included through a transparent process.
