The Federal Executive Council, FEC, has approved the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy’, NPRGS, which was put together by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, PEAC.
Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, stated this on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, to State House Correspondents at the post-FEC briefing.
The strategy, according to Adesina, is the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s answer to the crippling poverty, which has afflicted millions of Nigerians for years, adding that it has been encoded in two volumes.
Adesina added that a Steering Committee, which will provide overall guidance for the implementation of the Strategy, would be headed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).
He said the council, which approved the implementation of the strategy, also granted its incorporation into the Medium Term National Development Plan 2021-2025 and the Agenda 2050.
It directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to prepare a bill for submission to National Assembly, to make the implementation of the strategy sustainable.
Adesina explained that though the Vice President will chair the implementation of the policy, it will be domiciled in the office of the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
Also speaking at the briefing, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, regretted the incessant attacks on the camps of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.
Against the background of the attack by suspected herdsmen on the Abagana IDP camp in Benue State, which led to the death of seven persons, he called for the beefing up of security around them.
She said her ministry was working assiduously to alleviate the suffering of the IDPs and facilitate their return to their homes.
“Really, a very sad development, and I’m sure the security agencies are on top of it. What I can say is that there should be enhanced security around these areas where we have these incessant attacks.
“For us in the ministry, we do our best to see that these displaced people are being supported and catered for while we work towards returning them back to their communities,” she said.
Also speaking at the briefing, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said FEC adopted a National Diaspora Policy, engineered by the Nigerian Diaspora Commission led by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
According to him, the new policy is designed to engender national development as well as formalising relationship between Nigerian people and government at home, on one hand, and the Diaspora Nigerians on the other
He explained: “This policy really is aimed at formalising and giving a structure to the relationship between the country and government and the Nigerians in the diaspora, of which, you know, the 17 or more million Nigerians in the diaspora, and they constitute a very, very important part of the Nigerian community.
“This policy aims to promote national development through engagement, constructive engagement with the Nigerians in the diaspora.”
