Tag: Abuja

The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation notes with dismay, on a memo from the Ministry to the Accountant-General of the Federation approving for payment, of the sum of N585,189,500.00 Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups for four states, which is currently being circulated in the social media.

It is glaring that the same sponsored disgruntled elements in the past few days have been trying to smear the Honourable Minister, Dr. Betta Edu, and stain her integrity because she drew the Federal Government’s attention to the ongoing 44.8 Billion Fraud in NSIPA. These elements have been trying to link her to a phantom fraud and are behind this latest misadventure.

However, this latest vile effort of theirs is another infantile blackmail doomed for evisceration.

For avoidance of doubt, the said N585,198,500.00 was approved, and it is meant for the implementation of Grants to Vulnerable Groups (GVG) in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos States. We must, however, note that GVG was first launched in Kogi State where all recipients testified.

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Akwa Ibom and Cross River were launched in December 2023, Kogi already happened in November, and others will be launched in the coming weeks.

The general public is invited to note that the Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups is one of the social intervention schemes of the federal government, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The evil motive of the mischief-makers behind the circulation of the memo is well-known and should be ignored. Of note is the fact that since assumption of duty about Five months ago, the Minister has religiously visited different parts of the country like Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Kogi, Plateau, Nasarawa, FCT, Lagos Cross River, etc and this is done to ensure she delivers on her mandate and she has remained focused, unbiased and committed to duty.

Signed:
Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair (ANIPR),
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Honourable Minister
05/01/2024

Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, on Tuesday 2nd January 2024, resumed in her office after she visited Plateau State to provide humanitarian relief materials to persons affected by the Plateau Massacre on Christmas Eve.

Addressing members of Staff of the Ministry on her first day in office in 2024, the Minister called for Renewed,  collaborative efforts to pull vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty.

She reiterated President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s commitment to eradicating poverty and reducing humanitarian challenges within the life of his administration.

According to her, “What’s most important is that we must draw out our goals and we must be focused to achieve them. We must be transparent and accountable in our dealings, and we must put poor people first in all our interventions.

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“We need to work as a team. We need to be more innovative in our approach, and we need to be more committed to work.”

She assured Nigerians that she and her team would continue to work round the clock to meet 100 percent, of the mandate given to the Ministry by the president.

She noted that in the last month, even during the Christmas and New Year break, she and her staff never went on break, as they were on the field attending to vulnerable Nigerians in various parts of the country.

“Even during the Christmas and new break, we were out there bringing succor to the poor and vulnerable in parts of the country in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President which aims to free Nigerians from the clutches of poverty.

“Throughout December, achieved more Mike stones. Conditional Cash Transfer paid an additional 532,000 persons following in-person verification, Renewed Hope Shelter for Poor and IDPs completed ground clearing and grading of 10 hectares for the building of 40 houses the also installed boreholes to provide water for construction. The rural vocational skill program trained 500 people in Adamawa State, and we launched the Renewed Hope Grant for vulnerable groups in Cross River State and some other states. N- Power got paid one month’s allowance out of their backlog pending recovery of their funds removed from the account.

“We were also in plateau state to condole and offer emergency response succor to communities affected by the Christmas Eve massacre. We got in on the first of January, back in Abuja.

“And today, the 2nd of January 2024,  we are back to office working. The reason is simple: We must deliver on our mandate. We have a mandate to pull 50 million Nigerians out of the city within 41 months, and all of us must commit to it,” the Minister said.

Dr. Edu disclosed that in the coming weeks,  the federal government,  through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation,  will flag off many more social intervention schemes including the End Hunger and Code Nigeria program, Grow Nigeria, and revitalize most programs under the ministry and its agencies. All these are geared towards giving vulnerable Nigerians a new lease of life.

Nigeria’s Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr.  Betta Edu, has reiterated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s determination to accord dignity to senior citizens by giving them a new lease of life inline with the Renewed Hope Mandate.

Speaking Tuesday at the National Senior Citizen Centre’s, (NSCC) maiden Programme and Services Fair in Abuja, the Minister said Seniors Citizens are adequately factored in all the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current administration.

According to her, “the federal government is mainstreaming older persons into social protection programs, Health and Social Care; building senior centres to promote social connections  and care among older persons, encouraging recreation and intergenerational cross learning.”

The Minister disclosed that her Ministry was working in tandem with its mandate to support NSCC to evolve Multi-purpose Cooperatives to cascade the indigenous ventures and auxiliary productive activities of older persons within communities to expand the inclusion of more numbers and ensure access to micro-loan schemes and markets.

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“The Ministry is also working in the area of its mandate to ensure older persons receive social support, peculiar to their age-specific challenges – notably the mitigation of absolute poverty among very poor and vulnerable older persons through the Grant for senior citizens. Dr.  Edu added.

She described the fair as an innovative effort by NSCC to promote the needed awareness and understanding of its mandate, its strategic approach to delivering outcomes for the different target sub-populations of older persons, with their peculiar challenges and to exploit the economic growth opportunities they present.

Dr Edu applauded the Centre’s initiative to set aside a day for the viewing of its programs and services, which, she said, it has not only developed through processes and mechanisms that enable older persons and stakeholders’ participation in the conduct of national needs assessments but also in the program conceptualization, designs and the pilot and the monitoring and evaluation phases.

“I believe this FAIR will promote positive attitudes about ageing and older persons, and encourage increasing policy shift towards equity and more inclusion of older people in all sector programs” the Private sector need to come into the space to support the various initiatives,” she maintained.

Earlier in her address, the Director-General of the Centre,  Dr.  Emem Omokaro said the fair was geared towards sharing NSCC’s innovative and transformative actions aimed at improving quality of life and wellbeing for older persons.

Omokaro said the centre is also to make the human rights and business as well as economic growth case for equity and inclusion of older persons in sustainable development through the Centre’s exhibitions.

Enumerating the challenges facing senior citizens in Nigeria, Dr. Omokaro stated:”Older persons’ right to equality, dignity non-discrimination, lack of income Security, Psychosocial wellbeing, lack of appropriate  healthcare, independence, participation etc are majorly affected by ageism – negative stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination of older persons on the bases of age.

“Also, the overarching pessimistic message of ageing is that older persons are non-contributing rail members of society and economic burden. Other challenges are exacerbated by ageism leading to exclusion and heightened vulnerabilities.”

The DG further lamented that older persons experience discrimination in social protection systems and humanitarian emergency mechanisms which manifest respectively in inadequate pension benefits, lack of access to affordable healthcare, limited social assistance, and right assistance and support for those in need.

Highpoint of the event attended by the UN representative, and other development partners was the launch  of “Older Persons Indigenous Craft and Skills Empowerment Programme for Sustainable Community Development in Nigeria” by the Minister, Dr Betta Edu.