Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is to head a new body charged with the implementation of policies to fight Nigeria’s worsening poverty level, the government has announced.
At its weekly meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council approved a National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, which was submitted to the government by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
President Muhammadu Buhari presided the meeting at the presidential villa, Abuja.
Femi Adesina, Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who headed PEAC, is to chair the steering committee to provide overall guidance for the implementation of the strategy.
Nigeria was reported in 2018 to have become the world’s poverty headquarters for having the largest number of people living in extreme poverty.
The FEC also approved that the strategy be incorporated into the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021-2025 and Agenda 2050, in addition, Adesina said.
The presidential spokesman added that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was directed to prepare a bill for submission to National Assembly to make the implementation of the strategy sustainable.
“The Federal Executive Council noted the worsening poverty situation in the country and the efforts of the Federal Government to redress that situation.
“It is not as if the government is not aware that there is poverty in the land but things are being done. One of them is the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy that was presented today (Wednesday).
“The council also noted that the president pledged to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. Actually, by June 12 this year, that promise will be two years old. It was noted that it is work in progress, and it is work that will get done,” he added.
Giving a background to the birth of the strategy document, Adesina said:
“The council noted that the President had directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Chairman, Presidential Economic Advisory Council, on the need to come up with a sustainable Poverty Reduction Strategy. And that strategy is what is already codified in this volume and it was widely discussed and passed.”
Contributing to the presentation, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the council adopted a National Diaspora Policy engineered by the Nigerian Diaspora Commission led by Abike Dabiri.
“This policy is aimed at formalizing and giving a structure to the relationship between the country and government and Nigerians in the diaspora, of which, you know, the 17 or more million Nigerians in the diaspora and they constitute a very, very important part of the Nigerian community.
“This policy aims to promote national development through engagement, constructive engagement with Nigerians in the diaspora.
“In fact, for them to be really an integral part of march towards greater development, and utilising all these skills and all the resources that they have,” Onyeama said.
