Minister Seeks Holistic Approach Against Poverty

Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, has called for a holistic approach to address poverty in Nigeria.

Receiving a delegation from the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Front (NDPSF) in his office in Abuja, the minister said there was need for collaboration between the ministry and stakeholders to address poverty because government cannot do it alone, a statement from the ministry’s director, information and public relations, Iliya Rhoda Ishaku, said yesterday.

The statement quoted Dr Sununu as saying that currently, there was need for formal engagement with stakeholders on humanitarian affairs and poverty reduction in the country and the ministry was working towards the establishment of a National Council on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, a forum where all stakeholders will brainstorm and chat a way forward for the Nigerian humanitarian sector.

He also stated that the ministry was working on formulating the National Humanitarian Response Plan.

“The ministry will look at the national humanitarian crises and provide a national plan for the country,” he said.

He thanked the founder of NDPSF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari,  through the group for supporting President Bola Tinubu by addressing youth restiveness in the Niger Delta Region.

Earlier, The national chairman of NDPSF and leader of the delegation, Alabo Engr Obomate Harry, said the delegation was in the ministry to seek partnership and compliment what the ministry is doing in job creation, skills acquisition and uplifting the vulnerable to assist the ministry in actualising the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

The group solicited greater presence of the ministry in the Niger Delta region and suggested citizens engagement mechanisms and workshops organised in the Niger Delta for more credibility, visibility, respect and honour to programmes of the ministry.

Harry said the NDPSF  was established in 2003 by Alhaji Dokubo Asari to agitate for the Niger Delta people, be a mouth piece of the down-trodden and a voice for the voiceless in the region.

He pledged the organisation’s readiness to collaborate with the ministry to support what it is doing. At the meeting, the minister of state was presented a plaque in recognition of his contributions to humanity and national development.