From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction has asked the National Assembly to provide N260 billion for it to create two million jobs in 2025.
This demand was made by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Friday when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Poverty Reduction and Social Investment for the Ministry’s 2025 budget defence session.
The Minister, who was accompanied by the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mr. Gbadamosi Lawan, said, “The National Assembly should note that the Ministry has a mandate to create 2 million jobs in 2025. This will be achieved through a combination of efforts: The ministry has already procured starter packs that will enable over 110,000 beneficiaries to embark on self-reliant ventures. These starter packs are vital tools for entrepreneurship and economic growth.”
“However, to ensure the success of these programmes, we require N55 billion in funds to conduct a 2-week intensive training for all beneficiaries, payment of resource persons, and logistics funding to facilitate the effective distribution of the starter packs at N45,000 per beneficiary.”
“There is a need for monitoring and evaluation to ensure the transparency and sustainability of these initiatives at N5,000 per beneficiary.”
“Additionally, we need to train 50,000 unemployed graduates and non-graduates under our Skill2Wealth Initiative, which seeks to create many micro and small-scale businesses. This will cost N50 billion (at N1,000,000 per beneficiary, covering training in all 36 states and the FCT, starter packs, linkage to the market, and M&E).”
“There is also the need to create a budget line for the Humanitarian Response Fund of N10 billion for communities affected by climate-change-related disasters, conflicts, and man-made crises, including flooding, fire outbreaks, and insurgency attacks that have displaced thousands.”
“In the same vein, another budget line of N15 billion is required in the 2025 fiscal year for durable solutions for households affected by disasters in 2024, just as an additional sum of N130 billion is required by the Ministry as an Intervention Fund to resolve these humanitarian and poverty reduction challenges across the country in 2025.”
The Minister assured that efforts would be intensified to get the President’s approval for the release of the sum of N3.7 billion approved in the 2024 Appropriation Act for grants to 5,000 vulnerable groups domiciled with Access Bank for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries.
Giving details on the 2025 proposed budget, he said overheads were increased from N682.7 billion in 2024 to N978.3 billion in 2025, representing a 43.31% increase to cushion changes caused by inflation.
For the capital budget, he lamented that the N4.6 billion provided in the 2025 proposal is inadequate to address the increasing humanitarian challenges in the country, as support from global partners has dwindled.
“It is worth noting that global humanitarian support from donor countries has dropped, and most donors are targeting the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine,” he informed the committee.
He also urged the National Assembly to amend the NSIPA Act to address gaps hampering the effective operations of the agency, especially in the area of funding.
Responding to his presentation, the committee assured the Minister that the National Assembly would provide sufficient funds for the Ministry in the 2025 fiscal year to enable it to reduce poverty among vulnerable Nigerians and address humanitarian crises across the country.