Edu flags off distribution of relief materials to 900 IDPs households

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, has kicked off the distribution of relief materials to poor and vulnerable Nigerians as part of the federal government’s intervention to cushion the impacts of the economic crunch and alleviate poverty.

The minister flagged off the intervention by distributing non-food items such as mattresses, pillows, blankets, footwear, wrappers and treated mosquito nets, to 900 Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs), households at Shwari Camp 5 in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital at the weekend.

“The goal is to get everybody, wherever they are, out of poverty and humanitarian crises, this is the commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The President has directed that Nigerians who are living under one dollar per day, not even one dollar ninety-five cents daily, should be reached and pulled out of poverty.

“Vocations and skill training, micro small and medium size enterprises amongst other interventions, are important for those who are here and ready, but for those who can trace where they came from, we will reunite them with their families and provide them with economic start-up capital to remove them and their families out of poverty,” she said.

During the exercise, Edu assured the other 480,000 unregistered IDPs at the camp that the federal government was not unmindful of their plight and humanitarian needs.

She said President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda, geared towards eradicating poverty, will cover them directly working with the state government.

She adds that the social register, conditional cash transfer, and other social intervention programs of the federal government would be extended to them.

Minister Edu expressed optimism that the relief items will go a long way in cushioning their harsh living conditions and that the government will provide more durable solutions for them to cater for their families.