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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has advocated a synchronization of poverty eradication schemes between the States and the Federal Government, in order to have an overall impact across the country.
Farouq, who spoke yesterday in Abuja, at a virtual extra-ordinary meeting of the Forum of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Secretaries to State Government, argued that poverty remained one of the country’s greatest setbacks which must be addressed urgently before it consumes the citizenry.
In a statement released by her Special Adviser on Media, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, she said: “A careful evaluation of all major programmes and projects of Government since independence on poverty reduction, alleviation and eradication shows that there is a need to harmonise and rationalise intervention strategies and their implementation which will lead to an environment where all programmes are centrally coordinated and monitored with a view to making the overall impacts transparently felt by all Nigerians.
“Though many actions were taken to address this in the past, the 2018/2019 Poverty and Inequality data in Nigeria, as released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the range of poverty headcount is between a high of 87.3% in Sokoto State to a low of 4.5% in Lagos, with a National average of 40.2%.
“This alarming situation and the strategic need to address it is the primary reason why the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari established the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to provide National Coordination, strategies and policies for intervention.
“To ensure that these activities are well harmonised, it is imperative to intensify consultations to acquire the desired partnerships and coordination to succeed.
“This reality and indeed the key stake held by the State Governments in this process is the main reason why I requested the SGF to kindly avail us this platform to consolidate our partnerships and cooperation.
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“Therefore, in order for us to succeed in attaining this vision, securing a partnership between the Ministry and the various State Governments is paramount.
This meeting today therefore is the first but significant step in cementing this inter- governmental synergy for the benefit of vulnerable people in our country.”
Corroborating the minister’s position, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha emphasized the need for a well-coordinated National, rather than disparate states and federal programmes aimed at addressing poverty.
“The theme is a pointer to the importance of dealing with the unacceptable levels of poverty in Nigeria. This situation is not abating in spite of the various efforts of government at all levels.
“Ineffective coordination between and within various levels of government have been long implicated as a reason for a not too visible performance. It is therefore, necessary to fill gaps, block leakages, remove overlaps and increase collaboration and partnerships between the Federal and State Governments through the office of SSGs so that we have a real National effort at tackling poverty in the country.”
In her godwill message, Minister of Women Affairs,Pauline Tallen in her called for the full integration of women, children and youth in poverty reduction programmes and further pledged her commitment to support the coordination efforts.
Using the agricultural sector as a key driver of poverty eradication , Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono solicited a three-tiered collaborative policy implementation through state, multi-MDA and community levels to unlock greater opportunities for agric-preneurs across all levels.
