90 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty – Minister

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

Nearly 90 million Nigerians are living with extreme poverty, Minister of Humanitarian and Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has stated.

The Minister, who spoke at a budget defense session of the Ministry before the House of Representatives Committee on IDPs, said the Buhari government has resolved to lift the 90 million Nigerians in extreme poverty across the country.

She also said the new ministry was committed to strengthening coordination of humanitarian and disaster management efforts by multiple stakeholders, adding that the Ministry has enormous responsibility to address some of the underlying causes, drivers and consequences of humanitarian crises and underdevelopment including: relatively high poverty of nearly half (90 million) of the country’s 198 million population live in extreme poverty.

Breakdown of the proposed budget for National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons include: N474,306,285 for personnel, N165 million for resettlement of IDPs in the North East and Bakkasi returnees in the 2020 budget proposal.