Nigeria

Buhari admits knowledge of 54% of Nigerians living below poverty line

Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 10:53 AM by Onyirioha Nnamdi

- President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration is resolved to tackle poverty in Nigeria

- President Buhari said that to lift about 100 million Nigerians from poverty, the federal government has launched the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP)

- The president said that all of this is based on his knowledge that up to 54% of Nigerians live below the poverty line

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, September 24, in New York during the United Nations General Assembly's 74th session said that he is aware of the fact that up to 54% of Nigerians live below the poverty line.

President Buhari said this on the side-line of the international conference tagged SDG integration - bridging the policy planning: budgeting gap for the achievement of the sustainable development goals.

The president said that this knowledge influenced the federal government's launch of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in a bid to lift about 100 million Nigerians from poverty in line with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), This Day reports.

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He went on to say that one of the ways his administration is achieving this feat is through the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSF) initiative which is feeding almost 10 million school pupils daily and empowering over 90, 000 local catering staff across the country.

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Buhari said: "I am aware from official statistics that approximately 54 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line as defined by World Bank. It is pertinent to state that reducing extreme poverty and hunger is one of the cardinal objectives of our administration.

“It is for this reason that in May this year, we committed ourselves to lift approximately 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within a 10-year period. This is a national development priority and in line with the aspirations of the SDGs."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that President Buhari on Monday, August 18, said that his second administration was laying the foundation to lift not less than 100 million Nigerians from poverty.