Minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, Sadiya Umar Farouq has said that poverty was the reason why insecurity and other social vices persist in Nigeria, saying that all hands are currently on deck to tackle the root cause of poverty in the country.
In her address during the Advanced Training on Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) 2.0 Digitisation and Registration for Programme Managers and Master Trainers, the minister said that the beneficiaries will be trained in using digital skills to eradicate poverty.
Farouq said, “Poverty is an issue in our nation and it is very high. There are people in this country, irrespective of the region, that have not seen light or water for 60 years.
“You need to go to your respective villages to understand what I am talking about. You will see a poor man marrying many wives and giving birth to many children to continue the chain of poverty.”
Represented by the national coordinator of NSIP, Dr Umar Bindir, the minister said the issue of poverty has been faced by different governments, with attempts to tackle it under different programmes.
In 2019, she said in order to tackle the issue of poverty, President Muhammadu Buhari created the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to alleviate millions of Nigerians from poverty, especially under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
“Poverty is the cause of different forms of insecurity, including kidnapping, farmer-herder crisis, etc. The kidnappings heard in Nigeria are being carried out by young people between 15-25 years.
This is one of the reasons the federal government introduced the N-Power programme, under NSIP, to ensure that youths are employed after graduation.
“For me, this training is an opportunity for the beneficiaries and participants from different parts of the country to acquire digital skills. This training needs humility.”
She said partnership and cooperation are needed to achieve the objectives of the training.
“Share information. Share your skills to actualise your ambition and help the federal government in realising its objectives of lifting millions of Nigerians from poverty,” she added.
