Report Details How Buhari's Poverty Reduction Strategy Impacted Millions of Nigerians
- According to reports, Buhari's administration lifted about 2 million Nigerians from poverty through its poverty reduction programmes.
- The report cited the National Reduction with Growth Strategy as the vehicle via which Nigeria achieved the feat.
- The initiative allegedly empowered farmers and small business owners, among other achievements
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As activities of the Buhari administration gradually close, details of the achievements of its National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS), an initiative aimed at reducing poverty across Nigeria, are coming to light.
Checks on the activities of the Steering Committee of NPRGS, chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, showed that by adopting a different approach based on a common-sense strategy, the Committee's interventions had impacted millions of Nigerians across various sectors in less than a year of operations.
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Two million Nigerians allegedly lifted out of poverty
Confirming the development, the spokesman to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, in a media update, stated that almost 2 million vulnerable Nigerians had been impacted by various projects implemented by the NPRGS Committee for the year 2022 in agriculture, rural roads construction and skills and vocational training.
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Daily Trust reported that Akande recalled that Prof. Osinbajo had noted in a meeting with committee members that the Buhari administration's plans to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years will not be based on a business-as-usual approach but a straightforward, common-sense strategy that will deliver the results as the President promised.
He explained that the approach adopted by the Committee led by the VP resulted in significant progress within a brief period.
Over a million farmers affected by the initiative
Findings show that about 1.6 million smallholder farmers were impacted under the Agriculture for Jobs Plan alone. At the same time, 13,000 youths have been trained under a Technical and Vocational Education and Training programme in 6 States comprising Lagos, Ogun, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, and Nasarawa, while arrangements are underway to provide similar training for 2000 beneficiaries in Edo State.
Additionally, 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.
According to the NPRGS implementation monitoring update Akande released, some programmes that have achieved 100% completion for the 2022 cycle include the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP) and the Construction of Rural Roads, among others.
Akande said:
"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."
At its last administration meeting, he noted that the Committee recently approved the sum of N250 billion for the execution of projects for this year.
Projected scheduled for implementation
• Providing 100,000 homes for low-income earners will create 1 million jobs directly and indirectly.
• The expansion of energy access by providing 1,200 solar street lights in rural communities and six mini-grids for high-capacity productive farming under the Solar Naija Programme.
• Creation of 4.5 million direct and indirect jobs through the Rural Roads programme, which targets to connect about 750 rural markets.
• Provision of N9 billion support for over 1.6 million vulnerable smallholder farmers for the 2023 wet season farming under the Agriculture for Jobs Plan.
• The expansion of the National Social Register with additional 3 million households.
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who is also the Co-Chair of the Technical Working Group for the Committee, had, in a chat with journalists at the end of the Committee's last meeting in April, expressed optimism that despite challenges and issues associated with the transition of governments, efforts were underway to touch each of the targeted areas of implementation.
The report shows naira lost half its value against the US dollar under President Buhari
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian naira's exchange rate against the United States dollar during President Muhammadu Buhari's eight-year tenure declined significantly.
BusinesDay reports that the naira weakened by 57.26% and 37.58% in the official and black markets.
When President Buhari assumed office in 2015, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria's official window indicated that the naira exchanged at N197/$ against the US dollar.
Source: Legit.ng
