Juliet Jacob Ochenje
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, has said that the amount allocated to the ministry in the 2024 budget is not enough to fight poverty in Nigeria.
Edu made this known on Tuesday when she led officials of her ministry to defend its 2024 budget before the Joint National Assembly Committee of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, chaired by Senator Idiat Adebule in Abuja.
According to her, the ministry was given an overhead ceiling of N532.5 billion, which represents a 28 per cent increase over the 2023 budgetary provision, to cushion the effects of inflation.
“It is pertinent to note that the 28 per cent increase in the overhead ceiling is not commensurate to the 27.33 percent inflationary rate in the economy today.
She added, “Conversely, the capital budget ceiling was reduced from N3.7 billion in 2022 to N1.3 billion in 2023 and it represents a 71 percent reduction.
“So, in the 2022 and 2023, there was a 71 percent reduction.
“However, the pittance capital ceiling of N1.535 billion, which is an increase from the current year’s budget, does not in any way match with the mandate of the ministry’s headquarters in order to shrink poverty in Nigeria.
“Simply put, there was an over 71 percent reduction between 2022 and 2023, so the minimal increase between 2023 and 2024 does not in any way match with the mandate which we have been given and what is expected of us.
“At this point, I will plead humbly and sincerely with the chairman, co-chair and members of this great Committee that as we look into Nigeria as a nation, the burden lies on us to actually tackle the issue of poverty with sincerity.
“One thing you can take from myself and my team working under the guidance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that he truly wants Nigerians to be out of poverty. Except the budget is appropriate for it, we would be completely unable to meet that mandate,” she stated.
