Think tank scores Nigeria’s poverty reduction strategy high

Ahead of the May 29 inauguration, an economic think tank report has scored President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo’s administration high on poverty reduction.

The National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) report released on Friday, rated the administration high in key areas of its poverty reduction programmes.

The report indicated that the Agriculture for Jobs Plan impacted about 1.6 million smallholder farmers. At the same time, 13,000 youths have been trained under a Technical and Vocational Education and Training programme in six states comprising Lagos, Ogun, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa, while arrangements are underway to provide similar training for 2000 beneficiaries in Edo State.

Equally, more than 8,000 Nigerians were employed in rural road construction under the Rural Roads programme, which built 40 rural roads in 120 communities, covering about 57.3 km across the country.

Confirming the development, the spokesman to the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, stated in a media update: “Almost two million vulnerable Nigerians have been impacted by various projects implemented by the NPRGS Committee for the year 2022 in agriculture, rural road construction, and skills and vocational training.”

Mr Akande recalled that Prof. Osinbajo had, in a meeting with committee members, underscored the plan of the Buhari administration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years with a straightforward, common-sense strategy that will deliver results as promised by the President.

“Some programmes that have achieved 100% completion for the 2022 cycle include Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP) and Construction of Rural Roads, among others.

“A total number of direct beneficiaries of the implemented programmes currently stands at 1,818,782 vulnerable Nigerians, and 9,527 Nigerians have also been directly employed through implementing the programmes so far.”

“The committee at its last meeting of the administration recently approved the sum of N250 billion for the execution of projects for this year running,” he stated.