From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of Humanitarian Affair, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, yesterday, said the Federal Government has spent over N1.4 trillion to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
Speaking at the 23rd PMB Administration scorecard series (2015-2023) in Abuja, yesterday, she said though it was impossible for government to make all citizens comfortable because of limited resources, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had done more to alleviate poverty in the country, than previous governments.
She reiterated that since 2016, under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), the government has directly touched the lives of over 15 million individuals and families.
She said through the N-Power programme total investment from 2016-2022 stood at N890.7 billion, N17.629 billion has been spent on enumerated beneficiaries under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme. She said over N200 billion was spent to feed school children and another N246.279 billion spent under the CCT programme while N2.7 billion was spent on the IM programme.
“People who did not have things to do have been supported, they have some sort of capital to start up businesses. Let me also mention here that when this administration came on board in 2015, I think the statistics then was that over 75 per cent of our populace live below the poverty line. The story is different now. We have made significant progress. The National Flood Plan that was launched last year, I can tell you that the plan has been activated and it is what we use to respond to the flood and any other disaster that may come up. What we are giving to the vulnerable is impactful along the poverty line. We have lifted 80million it is such a huge number and the limited resources at our disposal we can only do what I have mentioned earlier.”
The minister dismissed insinuations that nepotism and favouritism are linked to the school feeding initiative, and added that “the programme is transparent as state governments were given the leeway to select the aggregators and the vulnerable.”