The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction has asked the National Assembly to approve N260 billion for it in the 2025 budget in order to create two million jobs.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, made the demand on Friday when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Poverty Reduction and Social Investment for the ministry’s 2025 budget defence.
But the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence said the total allocation of N595,024,943,368 billion to the sub-sector in the 2025 appropriation bill was inadequate. The committee chairman, Hon. Ahmed Satomi, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the budget defence meeting with agencies under the committee’s oversight jurisdiction.
Yilwatda was accompanied to the session by the national coordinator of National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mr. Gbadamosi Lawan.
He said, “The National Assembly should note that the ministry has a mandate to create two million jobs in 2025.
“This will be achieved through a combination of efforts: the ministry has already procured starter packs that would enable over 110,000 beneficiaries to embark on self-reliant ventures.
“These starter packs are vital tools for entrepreneurship and economic growth.
“However, to ensure the success of these programmes, we require N55 billion funds to conduct a two-week intensive training for all beneficiaries, payment of resource person and logistics funding to facilitate the effective distribution of the starter packs at N45,000 per beneficiary.
“There is need for monitoring and evaluation to ensure the transparency and sustainability of these initiatives at N5,000 per beneficiary.
“Additionally, we need to train 50,000 unemployed graduates and non-graduates under our Skill2Wealth Initiative which seeks to create many micro and small-scale businesses.
“This will cost N50 billion (at N1,000,000 per beneficiary: covering training in all the 36 states and FCT, Starter pack, linkage to the market and M&E).”
Yilwatda added, “There is also the need to create a budget line for Humanitarian Response Fund of N10 billion for communities affected by climate-change related disasters, conflicts and man-made crises, including: flooding, fire outbreaks and insurgency attacks that have displaced thousands.
“In the same vein, another budget line of N15 billion is required in 2025 fiscal year for durable solutions for households affected by disaster in 2024, just as additional sum of N130 billion is required by the ministry as intervention fund to resolve these humanitarian and poverty reduction challenges across the country in 2025.”
The minister assured that efforts will be intensified to get Mr. President’s approval for the release of the sum of N3.7 billion approved in the 2024 Appropriation Act for grant to 5,000 vulnerable groups, domiciled with Access Bank, for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries.
Giving details on the 2025 proposed budget, he said overhead was increased from N682.7 billion in 2024 to N978.3billion in 2025, representing 43.31 per cent increase, to cushion changes caused by inflation.
For capital budget, he lamented that the N4,601,092 billion provided in the 2025 proposal was inadequate to address the increasing humanitarian challenges in the country, as support from global partners had dwindled
Yilwatda told the committee, “It is worth noting that global humanitarian support from donor countries has dropped, and most donors are targeting the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.”
He also urged the National Assembly to amend the NSIPA Act to address gaps hampering effective operations of the agency, especially in the area of funding.
Responding to his presentation, the committee assured the minister that the National Assembly will provide sufficient funds for the ministry in 2025 fiscal year to enable it reduce poverty among vulnerable Nigerians and address humanitarian crises across the country.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence stressed that in the 2025 budget, defence and security sectors were allocated N4.91 trillion, underscoring the priority accorded security in the 2025 budget.
Satomi said, “For this laudable allocation, may I, however, note that the intelligence sub-sector appears to be grossly underfunded going by the total allocation of N595,024,943,368 billion to the subsector.
“Out of which proposed capital expenditure allocation is N274,550,298,453.00, overhead allocation is N107,963,187,783, while allocation to personnel expenditure for the entire intelligence sector is N212,511,457,132 billion.”
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