The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs. Hajia Sadiya Farouq, has disclosed that the Federal Government has spent over $5billion (N4 trillion) to combat poverty in the country.
The minister noted the total sum of $5bn (N4trn) was spent from the period of 2016 to 2020.
According to the official exchange rate of Monday, the money spent might be equivalent to N4 trillion.
Speaking further, she disclosed that the fund was spent as part of the promises of President Muhammadu Buhari to lift 100 million Nigerians from poverty.
Recall that Buhari during his democracy speech on June 12 had said his administration has been able to pull 10 million Nigerians out of poverty, while assuring that the target is to lift 100 million Nigerians through various poverty alleviation schemes.
In her explanation, the minister stated that the Federal Government has been committing $1bn to the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), as part of the fight to reduce poverty and inequality.
The National Coordinator of NSIP, Dr Umar Bindir, who represented the minister, made this known during a presentation of letters of engagement and electronic tablets to 248 monitors of the NSIP programme in Adamawa.
She said, “I am happy to report to you that every year since 2016, when NSIP was flagged off, Mr President has approved that $1bn be invested into that sector every year (which aggregated is over $5bn).”
However, it would be recalled that according to the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria, 4 out of 10 individuals in Nigeria has real per capita expenditures below 137,430 Naira, as of 2019. This also translates to over 82.9 million Nigerians who are considered poor by national standards. In Nigeria 40.1 percent of total population were classified as poor, making Nigeria to be one of the world’s poverty stricken country.
