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FG targets 20m Nigerians in welfare programme

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The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, said on Tuesday the Federal Government is targeting 20 million poor Nigerians in its social welfare programme.

Farouq, who stated this at the Annual Ministerial Dialogue on the National Social Register (NSR), said the federal government would make the register more interactive.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the NSR is a database of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria.

The minister said the focus of the meeting was to chart ways for the establishment of a central database for the programme through collaboration with other relevant agencies in data capturing.

She said: “As of January 31, out of the estimated 82.9 million (40.2 percent) Nigerians living below the poverty line, we have identified and registered 26.8 million poor and vulnerable individuals.

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“This is equivalent to about 6.3 million households in our country.

“We are expecting another 20 million to be added to the database, specifically targeted at urban informal workers impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to her, the database capacity is unprecedented in the history of the country.

Farouq explained that the ministry was mandated to socialise and create demand for the use of the NSR for social development initiatives across various levels of governments.

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