No fewer than one million vulnerable Nigerians have been captured into the National Social Register, as part of ongoing efforts aimed at improving the well-being of the citizens through the implementation of National Social Investment Programmes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Minister of Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, who disclosed this on Sunday, at the one-year commemoration service held at the Holy Trinity Church Maitama, Abuja, reiterated the resolve of the present administration towards institutionalizing the NSIPs.
The Minister who was represented by the Director of Disaster Management, Dr Dorothy Nwodo said: “As you rightly said the Ministry is just about one year that it was established by Mr President and the aim of Mr President in establishing this ministry is to ensure that all the social programmes are institutionalised and it can improve, be monitored and evaluated at the end of the day.
“Must of the social programmes which we have prior to the establishment of the Ministry has been under the Presidency and that is too much job for the Presidency to do his job and as well as look after social investment programme; poverty alleviation, that is very high in this country.
“You are aware that almost 82 million people are living below the poverty line, that now means they are living cost is just about a dollar a day and that is very very poor.
“So the President established the Ministry so that we can now rejig the social investment programmes that have been under him, improve on the processes and the methodologies that they have been managing the programmes, so that we can make more impacts on the citizens and bring out, as he said, 100 million citizens of this country that are poor out of poverty,” the Minister said.
She also reiterated the Ministry’s commitment towards repositioning the disaster management through National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the view to give proper supervision to ensure that we reduce the number of the outbreak of major disaster in the country like fire, flooding. We support the agency in doing that.
“We also have NAPTIP the office in charge of the prohibition of trafficking in persons, we also have the Refugee Commission under us now.
“That is where our Minister did perfectly well and that is why she was now appointed the Minister to be in charge of internally displaced person refugees and all those that are vulnerable. So the commission is now under us. And now we have the Sustainable Development Goals under us.”
While stressing that reasonable achievements have been recorded in the past one year but a lot needs to be done, she solicited for the cooperation and support of partners and other critical stakeholders, in the bid to achieve the feats.
The Minister said one of the challenges facing the Ministry is a paucity of funds.
“There is great work to be done but funding is a challenge. I call for increased budgetary allocation for the Ministry and support from local and international partners.”
In his remarks, the presiding Priest of the Holy Trinity Church Maitama, Abuja, Reverend Father Joseph Obada applauded ongoing efforts to improve the well-being of Nigerians especially the vulnerable groups.
“I have heard a lot about the activities of the Ministry and its agencies like NEMA, NAPTIP and so on, and it is quiet commendable, it shows that the Ministry is actually working.
“This should not be seen as just government work, but another way of doing corporal works of Mercy, responding to God’s words to be the salt and light of the world.”
Rev. Obada also enjoined everyone working in the Ministry and providing Humanitarian Services to see it also as a spiritual exercise.
He said as the Ministry continues to discharge its duties in the right and prudent way, God will reward everybody involved.
