Dr. Betta Edu, the young Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation must be a fulfilled lady. One of the poverty alleviation programmes of her Ministry- the Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) to the downtrodden- which she has passionately talked about has at last crystallized.
No sooner was she inaugurated as Minister than she hit the ground running, crisscrossing hard-to-reach areas of the country, slums, including Makoko in Lagos and IDP camps in parts of the North, promising a new lease of life for vulnerable Nigerians and intimating them about the various poverty alleviation schemes of her Ministry.
President Bola Tinubu represented Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume Tuesday launched the scheme in Abuja.
However, doubts about the feasibility and practicability of the programme persist. Critics alleged the current CCT under President Bola Tinubu is another conduit pipe for corrupt politicians given the fiasco that attended similar past programmes, including the School Feeding Programme.
For example, Mrs Benedicta Nwachi, a widow from Amagu, Oru-East council area of Imo state told this Magazine that “some people came to the village two years ago, gathered us women, especially peasant farmers, petty traders and widows, and took our names and other details and promised to return with some money for us but they never came back; we have not seen them till this moment”
However, the Minister has consistently doused such fears and doubts, assuring that the National Social Register has been thoroughly verified, updated and expanded to ensure that those who truly need the CCT receive it physically.
Notedly, in the current CCT, 15 million households will receive N25,000 for the next three months.
Speaking during the launching which coincided with the commemoration of the 2023 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a visibly elated Dr.Edu highlighted the need for all stakeholders including the private sector, development partners and other countries to support Nigeria in its aggressive drive to eliminate poverty.
“The cardinal goal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is to give the poor and vulnerable Nigerians a new breath of hope which is also in line with the SDG target.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not relent until vulnerable Nigerians are completely pulled out of poverty by 2030 “, she said
According to Dr Edu, a former Commissioner for Health in Cross River state, Conditional Cash Transfers is a proven way to alleviate poverty as they give household the financial support to start micro and small enterprises, provide basic health care, and food, keep their children in school and attend to the immediate needs of the households.
“Mr. President during the October 1st National Broadcast, announced this intervention, we have gone through a thorough rigorous process of verification for the National Social Register, giving us the lead way to begin payments. The beneficiaries are drawn from across all states in the country plus FCT and are been done in a transparent manner that is traceable and verifiable”
“Beyond this, the government will also be providing low-cost shelter for the poor and internally displaced persons as a form of providing that cover for them. Several other interventions, including the rural vocational skills Intervention, will be carried out at a country-wide scale. All of these are targeted at the various dimensions of poverty in the country.
The Minister assured that many more impact-driven poverty alleviation programs are set to be deployed for the betterment of the living conditions of Nigerians.
She commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for adding Poverty Alleviation as a key thematic area of her Ministry, describing it as a first of its kind in the country.
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