The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has said plans are underway to rejig the N-Power scheme to accommodate more people and ensure prompt payment of beneficiaries’ stipends.
Edu said this yesterday in Abuja in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Rasheed Zubair.
The minister said the delay in payment of stipends to N-Power beneficiaries would soon be addressed.
“We will change the modalities so that people will get their delayed stipends, include more people, and re-launch it with a Renewed Hope concept”, she said.
Edu also said the ministry planned to establish humanitarian hubs in the 774 local government areas across the country, stressing that this would be a long-term goal towards eradicating poverty in Nigeria.
The minister explained that the hubs would accommodate homegrown commodities, which would be sold at cheaper rates to Nigerians.
She also said the ministry would send its workers to all the local government areas to get feedback, in addition to engaging in digital tracking of the palliatives.
According to the statement, the digital tracking of the palliatives is aimed at determining the time, location, household, and individuals they are delivered to.
Edu assured Nigerians of her commitment to curtail the humanitarian crisis in the country through prompt responses.
“Nigerians should rest assured that all existing empowerment schemes within the National Investment Programme will be rejigged to cover more people effectively,” she said.
The minister assured fellow citizens of President Bola Tinubu’s huge economic interventions to meet their short and long-term needs.
“Mr President has huge economic plans for Nigeria; some with short-term goals while some with long-term goals. Nigerians should, please, trust the process”.
Also, Dr Edu has said no fewer than 8.3 million Nigerians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
Edu said the figure is part of the 16 million Nigerians affected by various humanitarian crises with the three states being worse hit.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by Zubair, the minister said aside from the Northeast, Benue State in the Northcentral had been tagged the capital of humanitarian crises in Nigeria by the United Nations (UN).
“We have a huge task on our hands. As we speak now, over 16 million Nigerians are affected by humanitarian crises, either man-made or natural disasters, with over 8.3 million of them based in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states…
“The UN said Benue State has become the humanitarian need capital in Nigeria and, as such, a lot of work needs to be done in the humanitarian angle,” she said.
