FG Approves Strategy To Combat Poverty, Osinbajo To Chair Implementation Committee

The Federal Government has approved a strategy to address the worsening rate of poverty in the country.

President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, informed State House correspondents that the issue of poverty was debated on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council meeting.

He said the Muhammadu Buhari administration acknowledged that there was poverty in the country and has put measures in place to fight the scourge.

Part of the measures to address the situation was the approval of a National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy presented at the meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The President’s spokesman stated that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who heads the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), would chair the steering committee to provide overall guidance for the implementation of the strategy.

The council also noted the Federal Government’s promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and observed that June 12 would make it two years since the promise was made, Adesina said.

According to him, the council concludes that the effort is a work in progress and the government stands by its promise and will play its own part until the expiration of the tenure of the current administration.

Adesina disclosed that the council equally approved the implementation of the strategy and its incorporation into A Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021-2025 and Agenda 2050.

President Buhari, he said, has directed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to prepare a bill for submission to the National Assembly to enable sustainable implementation of the strategy.

The meeting presided by President Buhari was physically attended by the Vice President, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; and the President’s Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

Some of those who were physically present included the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, Malami, Timipre Sylva (Minister of State for Petroleum Resources), Geoffrey Onyeama (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Zainab Ahmed (Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning), and Lai Mohammed (Minister of Information and Culture).