The federal government has begun the process of updating the national social register to provide succour to the poorest Nigerians living below the poverty line.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu stated this on Saturday, during a courtesy call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the Lagos House, Marina.
Before paying a courtesy call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the Lagos House, Marina, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu had visited Makoko, a slum community in Lagos Mainland, where she interacted with the people.
She said that she found out that not everyone in the community was captured in the national social register and there was indeed a need to update it.
Dr Edu, who said that more than one hundred and thirty million Nigerians were living below the poverty line, commended the governor for creating opportunities for people to thrive in Lagos State.
“We know basically that there are about one hundred and thirty million people are actually affected by multi-dimensional poverty. And so, when I hear things like you have Ministry of Wealth Creation, it gives me joy because you are directly targeting the people that we need to work with,” she said.
The minister added that about sixteen million people also affected by humanitarian crises and the government would ensure help get to them. Dr Edu called on the governor of to lead the process of reconciling the national social register in the state to ensure that only the poor were captured irrespective of their tribe or political affiliation.
“What’s the integrity of the national social register? Is it reflective of the people who should actually benefit from it, the extreme poor who live under poverty line and cannot afford one dollar ninety-five cents, which is almost two thousand naira now? They want to know if this is what Nigerians should look forward to, to get the renewed hope,” she added.
Responding, Governor Sanwo-Olu said that the state had data that it had used to help the poor and to train people to cater for themselves. Governor Sanwo-Olu who accepted the call by the minister to lead the process of reconciling the national social register said the government had no excuse for failure. He said the state had done almost a million homes and the people were anxious to see how the government would help them out of poverty.
The federal and Lagos State government teams agreed to work together to ensure that the grassroots benefit from efforts to tackle poverty.