The Federal Executive Council (FEC), yesterday approved the establishment of the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund as part of the administration’s efforts to cushion the economic hardship on vulnerable Nigerians.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the third council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Edu said the fund was expected to garner up to $5 million annually.
According to her, there will be a governing board that will supervise the implementation of the Fund which will be carefully worked out by members of the committee.
She said: “Tt will involve the minister for finance and other ministers that are relevant to the process.
“This is a flexible form of financing that is supposed to help Nigeria adequately respond to humanitarian crises and challenges as well as adequately address the issue of poverty in Nigeria.
“This of course is a victory for the poor and indeed, would bring help and succor which the Renewed Hope Agenda stands for.”
On the importance of the approval, she said: “Again, we are grateful to President Bola Tinubu today for the approval given for the creation of the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trusts Fund.
“This is a flexible form of financing that can help us get contributions from different sectors. So we’re going to have contributions from government, from the private sector, development partners, individuals, philanthropic individuals, and other innovative forms of crowd-funding and pooling of funds together.
“This is to allow for an emergency response to the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria. Every other day we hear about crisis, the floods and the rest of it.”
‘’We need to be able to respond adequately as a country. Beyond this, the issue of poverty alleviation is one of the agendas of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his eight-point agenda and we want to be able to tackle it headlong.”
On how much the government was looking at, Edu said: “Every year, we hope to be able to raise at least $5 billion in this fund and this is from the various sources that I’ve mentioned and even more.
‘’We are hopeful that with the creation of this funding, we can sit down with all the key stakeholders, including other ministries, and actually work out the full modality of implementation in Nigeria.”
Also briefing, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Lake, said the council approved a draft policy for the solid minerals sector, encompassing oil activities, operations, guidelines, regulatory framework, sourcing, mining, and all other dynamics in the sector.
He said the approval empowered the ministry to act precisely on issues, including security measures, combating illegal mining activities across the country, and securing Nigeria’s economic survival.
Alake added: “The solid mineral sector is critical to Nigeria’s economic survival due to ongoing changes in the global oil market, the push for climate change, and the shift towards green energy.
Illegal mining activities, from artisanal miners to high-level involvement, are significant challenges.
“We are reorganising the security structure and engaging inter-agency cooperation to combat this menace.
“The approval today, as part of the policy, allows the Solid Minerals Ministry to act on all matters related to deregulation, management, operation, and environmental sanitization of the Solid Minerals sector. – Vanguard.
