MINISTERIAL PRESS BRIEFING — MINISTER, FMHDSD
By: Government Of Nigeria
Tags: Governance, Geep, Nigeria, Social Investment, N Power Nigeria

Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development

Protocol…

It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Ministerial Press Briefing and also a great honour for me, at this present time in the history of our nation that I am leading this very important and strategic branch of Government: the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The purpose of this gathering is to acquaint the Nigerian general public with the activities and programmes of the Ministry since inception.

The Ministry was established on 21st August 2019 by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the vision “to create sustainable and inclusive social systems that promotes human dignity in Nigeria.”

The Ministry’s mission is to “coordinate, promote and strengthen social system that provide support for humanitarian needs integrating best practices, mechanisms and solutions through effective utilization of data, research and planning.”

The Mandate of the Ministry is “to develop Humanitarian policies and provide eﬀective coordination of National and International Humanitarian interventions; ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response; and manage the formulation and implementation of fair, focused, social inclusion and protection programmes in Nigeria.”

On the screen you can see the inter-relationship between the Ministry and the five Agencies and programmes under its supervision.

The Agencies are:

1. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)

2. The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI)

3. The North East Development Commission (NEDC)

4. The National Agency for Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)

5. The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD)

6. The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs)

The National Social Investment Programmes which were created via a Presidential Directive in 2016 by his Excellency, Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari, are aimed at achieving macroeconomic stability as a key execution priority for the Nigerian government as identiﬁed in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). NSIP has four programmes as follows:

i. Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP)

ii. Job Creation Unit (N-Power)

iii. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT)

iv. Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP)

These programmes are being implemented nationwide, and we will provide further details during this engagement.

In the past one year, the Ministry has been able to initiate the development of a policy for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development while collaborating with other MDAs on the review of and update of existing policies as it relates to our Ministry.

The National Policy for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development encapsulates a number of existing policy initiatives by agencies and programmes as listed in the table shown on the screen. The National Social Protection Policy being reviewed in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Budget & National Planning, and other stakeholders. This is a critical component of an overarching holistic national policy on Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Other policy initiatives are shown on the screen.

The Ministry has also developed the Civil-Security Cooperation (CiSEC) in Humanitarian Interventions to effectively tackle issues of access, coordination and communication between humanitarian actors and security sector towards the seamless delivery of humanitarian action to the. vulnerable. Since its adoption, the structures within the CiSEC framework have tackled and resolved critical humanitarian issues, assessed and prioritised options for access for the humanitarian community and provided an ecosystem for stakeholders to collaboratively develop policies for the coordination of humanitarian action in Nigeria.

A National Humanitarian Coordination Committee (NHCC) was also approved by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, where I was the chairing the committee to address key security concerns of the Humanitarian community and the Government in the North East region. This Committee is to ensure the provision of security for humanitarian workers and to mitigate the length of time and number of MDAs required to gain the necessary authorisation and permits to move people and relief materials.

The Ministry works extensively with international organizations in the areas of Peace, Security and Humanitarian activities and is currently putting in place structures that will ensure a humanitarian development peace nexuc approach mitigating vulnerabilities. We have had ongoing engagements with UN Agencies, Country Representatives of various International Organizations and several non-governmental organizations. We are working with International Organizations for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the repatriation of Nigerians from Niger, Cameroun, and Chad. World Food Programme (WFP) supported us in

designing and implementing the Modified National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme during the Covid-19 lockdown. We are working with UN OCHA on a number of humanitarian coordination activities in the North East.

Furthermore, the Ministry handles activities related to disaster management in Nigeria, and coordination of policies and programmes for effective national response to disasters. Such activities are in the levels of policy formulation, implementation and coordination of disaster management in Nigeria.

Since the creation of the Ministry, we have been on ground all over the country initiating timely response to disasters as a coordinated approach with all agencies and programmes working together under the leadership of the Ministry.

We are also in close collaboration with other MDAs to ensure the actualization of the Ministry’s mandate. The Ministry is actively developing relationships with MDAs in line with its mandate that border on health, education, and social security. The Ministry is working with the Ministries of Labour and Employment; Finance, Budget and National Planning; Agriculture and Rural Development; Youth and Sports Development; Women Affairs; Education; Defence; Communication and Digital Economy; Foreign Affairs; and all State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as strategic agencies such as ICPC, EFCC, ONSA and the DSS. These partnerships are geared towards providing support for poor and vulnerable citizens through the different programmes and projects of the Ministry.

Pictures shown on the screen highlight events and activities carried out in collaboration with MDAs, States and the FCT.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Natural and manmade environmental disasters, like the recent flood happening nationwide has led to issues of displacement and distorted development in several parts of the country, in addition to insurgency and banditry. The effects of the lockdown imposed as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic is still being felt till this day.

There is no better time that validates reasoning behind the creation of the Ministry as now, as we speak. Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has at these times of emergencies and national need, relentlessly led efforts in the implementation of a series of coordinated interventions targeted specifically to ease the burden of vulnerable socio-economic segments of the country, before, and during Covid-19 lockdown.

AGENCIES AND PROGRAMMES

A. National Emergency Management Agency, as its mandate states, has been at the forefront in coordinating Federal response to emergency preparedness, mitigation response and recovery in the country. During national emergencies, NEMA plays a critical role in coordinating resources towards efficient and effective emergency response management. Several active responses to disasters have been carried out since August 2019. Some of these include:

· Provision of Relief materials and support in the:

i. Anambra — Ochanja Market tanker explosion, October 2019

ii. Adamawa Flood Victims, October 2019

iii. Borno GSM Village Fire Outbreak victims, November 2019

iv. Borno — Auno Boko Haram Victims Attack in, February 2020

v. Fire outbreak, Ngala Borno, February 2020

vi. Lagos Market Fire Outbreak Victims, March 2020

vii. Lagos — Pipeline explosion, March 2020

viii. Borno — Muna IDP Camp Fire Outbreak victims, May 2020

ix. Delta Asaba — Ogbeogonongo Market Fire Outbreak, June 2020

In addition to the disaster responses mentioned, NEMA was also instrumental in:

· Coordinating stakeholders towards efficient and effective National and Local level response to COVID-19 Pandemic in Security, Logistics and Mass Care Functional Area as Lead Agency.

· Facilitating movement of assorted grains from various Silos to 24 states, including Lagos, Ogun, Kano, FCT and other States as palliatives released by Mr. President.

· Providing Emergency Agricultural Intervention in Fourteen (14) Flood-impacted States of Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto and Taraba.

· Providing Relief assistance to persons affected by flood in Guri, Dutse, Birni-kudu and Kiri-Kasama LGAs Jigawa State, and

· Most recently, an assessment was carried out on flood/windstorm disaster in Rivers, Imo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Jigawa, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Anambra, Adamawa, Benue, Abia, Borno, Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Lagos, Enugu, Nasarawa, Bauchi States and FCT.

My colleagues and I were also at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to inspect the arrangement and facilities put in place for early detection of COVID-19 on arrival of passengers.

On the screen is a list of palliatives received from the Nigerian Customs Services, the National Strategic Grain Reserve, and some well-meaning Organizations in the Private Sector. As indicated in the list, these palliatives were handed over to State Governments, and the FCT Administration for onward distribution to the poor and vulnerable citizens in their States in efforts to cushion the effects of the lockdown as a result of the pandemic.

Ladies and gentlemen, we also visited states to distribute fertilizers under the Emergency Agricultural Intervention Programme to farmers affected by the 2018 flood.

Furthermore, NEMA is leading a coordinated effort of the Rapid Response Team on Covid-19. They are mobilizing an efficient and effective national and local response in Security, Logistics and the Mass Care Functional Area of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19. The Agency has also facilitated the movement of assorted grains to Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Lagos, Ogun, Niger, Kaduna, FCT and other states as palliatives for distribution to vulnerable persons affected by the pandemic.

B. National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons has the mandate to safeguard the interest and treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugees and asylum seekers as well as coordinate migration. Interventions have been carried out by the Commission. These include the sensitization and messaging on COVID-19 in IDP camps, distribution of relief materials (food and non-food items) to IDPs and refugees in Katsina, Kano, Benue, Kogi, Bauchi, Niger, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Zamfara States. Furthermore, NCFRMI carried out skills acquisition and training of IDPs on mass production of face masks for their use in IDP camps across the Country.

C. National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) has the mandate to enforce and administer the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of trafficking in persons and related matters.

Various sensitization exercises and outreach activities carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic by NAPTIP include:

· advocacy and sensitization campaigns in shelters throughout the country.

· Sharing palliatives to shelters through the help of partners.

· Awareness campaign on social media.

· Arresting and prosecuting traffickers and perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence.

· Rescuing victims and rehabilitation at the NAPTIP shelters offering them psychosocial support, medical and empowerment.

· Webinar meetings and seminars on sexual and Gender based violence

· NAPTIP officers and counselors were on standby at the Eagle square for deployment for enforcement by Rapid Response Team on Covid-19 during the lockdown.

· Evacuation of 60 Nigerians stranded in Lebanon. However, there were still many Nigerians in Lebanon, Oman, UAE and Saudi Arabia awaiting evacuation as at the time of the Covid-19 lockdown.

D. North East Development Commission (NEDC) receives and manages funds from allocation of the Federation Account and international donors for the settlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads, houses, schools, hospitals and business premises of victims of insurgency as well as tackling menace of poverty, illiteracy level, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the North-East.

Distinguished guests, ladies and Gentlemen: on the screen are pictures that show the critical role that NEDC plays in uplifting the livelihood of people in the North East. They have stepped up to provide timely assistance to the vulnerable during COVID-19 Pandemic. Some of these interventions include.

· Implementation of a medical outreach programme in Maiduguri, Borno State.

· Provided PPEs and equipment to facilities and tertiary health institutions in the North East states.

· Provided food and non-food items to people of the region

· Completed the Rapid Response Intervention (RRI) Projects mapping.

· Provided equipment and inputs for agricultural revitalization

· Constructed Isolation and health centers in IDP camps in Maiduguri

· Provided vehicles to all Security Agencies in the geo-political zones.

NEDC is committed to actualizing the plans for resettlement and relocation of IDPs through Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (DDRR), and Social Cohesion and Peace Building.

The photographs on the screen shows progress on the construction of the first 1000 homes out of 10,000 houses special intervention by Mr. President for IDPs in Borno State.

E. National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD)

On 17 January 2019, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (prohibition) Act 2018 and on assumption of office, I made its implementation a priority. Hence on 17th August 2020 Mr. President approved the appointment of the management team and Government was able to fulfill our commitment in ensuring the smooth takeoff of the National Commission for Persons with Disability. NCPD is charged specifically with the responsibility of ensuring the inclusion and welfare of persons with disabilities as enshrined in the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act 2018. My hope is that the Commission through its mandate will ensure that the education, healthcare and other socio-economic rights of the persons with disabilities are protected. As a Ministry, we shall continue to support and ensure maximum inclusion of persons with disabilities in our programmes and thus call on other stakeholders to embrace disability inclusion through the Commission for a better Nigeria for all citizens.

F. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. The mandate gives focus, strategic direction and momentum to the national commitment of the SDGs through:

1. Strategic Direction, Planning & Coordination

2. Representation, Advocacy and Partnership Development

3. Resource Mobilization and Management

4. Monitoring, Evaluation, Documentation and Reporting

Here are some key achievements from OSSAP-SDGs.

· Development and dissemination of MDGs End Point Report in preparation for MDGs — SDGs transition

· Development of Country Transition Strategy for phased SDG implementation

· Preparation of Data Mapping and SDGs Baseline Report to provide benchmark for monitoring progress of SDG implementation

· Integration of SDGs into National Development Plan

· Presentation of Voluntary National Review (VNR) at UN High Level Political Forum to accelerate implementation of SDGs

· Domestication of the Nigeria Integrated Sustainable Development Goals (iSDG) Simulation Model for SDGs-based Planning in September 2019.

· Presentation of the 1st Voluntary National Review (VNR) on Sustainable Development to the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) which commenced in July 2017 and concluded in July 2020.

· Successful conduct of the 2nd VNR on Sustainable Development and its presentation to the UN HLPF in July 2020.

In all these activities the Ministry has embarked on, it has made social inclusion its top priority by including the forgotten and ungoverned parts of our societies; the Rural Poor, People with special needs, the Elderly, Orphaned Children, and Women particularly Widows, IDPs, unaccompanied minors, Stateless persons, Trafficked victims, Out of School Children and vulnerable youth in the society.

G. The National Social Investment Programmes has touched the lives of millions of Nigerians since its creation in 2016. It has been a key instrument in uplifting the lives of the poorest of the poor and providing assistance and hope to millions of Nigerians. Before I discuss these four NSIP programmes in more detail, let me once again restate them as:

1) The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP)

2) Job Creation Unit/N-Power

3) National Conditional Cash Transfer, and

4) Government Enterprise Empowerment Program (GEEP)

1) National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP). This programme has the objectives:

a. To improve the enrollment of primary school children in Nigeria and address the poor nutrition and health of many children arising from poverty, which have affected the learning outcomes of the children; and

b. It is also aimed to stimulate local agricultural production and boost the income of farmers by creating a viable and ready market through the school feeding programme. This contributes to building the local economy.

c. It provides livelihood and income to the local cooks and has created an economic value chain in the communities

During Covid-19, the Ministry worked in collaboration with Nigerian Governors Forum and adopted a “Take Home Ration” model for distribution of food to households of school children enrolled in the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in FCT, Ogun and Lagos States. The rationale behind this was to distribute food rations to the parents or guardians of the children already enrolled in the programme. The Ministry worked in partnership with the United Nation Agency — World Food Programme (WFP), ICPC and DSS during the programme implementation in FCT, Lagos and Ogun states as pilot States.

Another programme under NSIP is the Job Creation Unit/N-Power: This programme was created to help young Nigerians acquire and develop life-long skills to become active players in the domestic and global markets.

A total of 544,949 beneficiaries comprising of 498,602 graduates and 46,347 non-graduate young unemployed Nigerians have been trained in the provision of volunteer service in critical socio-economic sectors such as education, health and agriculture and are paid N30,000 and N10,000 respectively as monthly stipend for a 2-year period.

After the two-year period, facts and reports show that some of the beneficiaries of Batch A and Batch B of the programme have established businesses in their communities, with no fewer than 109,823 beneficiaries of the N-Power Programme who have identified themselves as business owners.

Current Enrolment Status of beneficiaries for N-power Batch C closed in July 2020 and we have received over 5 Million applications since the portal opened. The application process will be concluded as soon as possible to provide additional Nigerian youths access to the programme.

At this juncture, I want to officially announce that the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with the Ministry has developed a portal to enable the exited N-Power beneficiaries to log on and apply for the various economic empowerment and entrepreneurship options provided by the Central Bank such as the AGSMEIS loan and the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP). Interested N-Power exited beneficiaries should log on to the CBN portal for more information. The website portal is nexit-fmhds.cbn.gov.ng as displayed on the screen.

The third NSIP programme is the National Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme. This programme provides targeted monthly cash transfers of N5,000 to poor and vulnerable households, with the aim of reducing absolute poverty and promoting prosperity.

The images you see on the screen present nation-wide activities of the Conditional Cash Transfer programme. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, we had 748,684 beneficiaries that received their N20,000 two months in advance stipend as directed by Mr. President. As a result of this programme, 28,817 savings group have been created out of the beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer programme. These groups give loans to their members in efforts for them to venture into businesses that will help lift them out of poverty.

The fourth NSIP Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is aimed at providing access to financial services (loans) to traders, market women, artisans, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as enterprising youth, farmers and agricultural workers.

This is achieved through three vehicles, namely:

· Trader Moni

· Market Moni, and

· Farmer Moni

This next slide shows activities of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP). During the lockdown, we came up with some interventions as a response mechanism to help ease the plight of small-scale businesspeople across Nigeria.

A 3-month moratorium was directed by Mr. President for all GEEP loans, and we implemented this directive accordingly by suspending loan repayments of about 1.8 million beneficiaries of the programme for a period of three months. The accompanying picture shows our engagement with some traders in Lagos state COVID-19 disbursement activities.

EXPANSION OF THE NSIP PROGRAMS

In the Ministry’s efforts, we have explored all opportunities to actively collaborate with Government MDAs and Development Partners to create employment and opportunities for Nigerian vulnerable youth.

The National Social Investment Programmes initiated in 2016 by his Excellency Mr. President under the leadership of the Vice President with Programmes like the N-Power, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) have Nigerian vulnerable youth enrolled into start-ups and job placements.

In a bid to realize Mr. President’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years, the Ministry places significant emphasis on youth empowerment by strategically ascertaining youth engagement as a foundational objective in implementing the following strategies:

1. Double the scope of the National Social Investment Programmes.

Mr President has graciously approved the expansion of all NSIP programmes. Such as

Increase of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000.

Increase GEEP beneficiaries by 1,000,000 and increase of beneficiaries of Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000

2. Strengthen strategic collaborations and partnerships with MDAs and private sector.

Here we continue to work with relevant partners at the National, State, and International levels to support the initiatives.

3. Resettle, rehabilitate, and reintegrate IDPs

4. Mitigation and prevention of disasters.

5. Intensify the implementation of the strategic pillars of the Ministry.

In championing Social Inclusion, deliberate efforts were made to capture vulnerable youth and groups which included Women, People with Special Needs, in the expansion of the National Social Register by one million households. Also, in the Economic Sustainability Plan we have over 1,000,000 Urban poor in the National Social Register.

As of June 2020, 4.41% of the total number of individuals captured in the National Social Register are recognized as Persons with Special Needs. This comes to a total of six hundred and eighty-five thousand and ninety (685,090) Persons with Special Needs in the National Social Register.

About 3.7 million households comprising of more than 15.5 million Individuals have been captured on the National Social Register. Of that number, over 2.8 million of the households which comprise of 13.5 million Individuals are eligible for Conditional Cash Transfer. This numbers are spread across the 36 states and FCT. The numbers are further broken down to 7.6 million males and 7.9 million females as shown on the screen.

In line with Mr. President’s directive to expand the National Social Register, we have developed a strategy for targeting the urban poor. This register will use existing databases from the National Communication’s Commission (NCC), and the Bank Verification Number (BVN) from Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). Here we are collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.

Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen, the preceding pages show efforts by the Ministry to ensure we deploy an evidence-based approach to all our activities.

Efforts of Human Capital Development in the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to build Social Safety Nets and Resilience in Nigeria after the COVID-19 pandemic is an affirmation to that effect.

As the cradle of the Human Capital Development Agenda of the Federal Government, the Ministry developed the COVID-19 Shock Responsive Social Protection Strategy. This includes cash transfer, food distribution and infection prevention materials distributed to the poor and vulnerable. We have also developed a plan for the post COVID-19 recovery period which are job creation, farmers grants, and livelihood projects. Our strategy is to build resilient structures that include the Nigeria vulnerable youth going forward.

PALLIATIVES

The Ministry identifies its strategic role and impact in the everyday lives of the Nigerian. We want to assure the public that we are on ground working every day for Nigerians.

Recently, the world has witnessed the unfortunate incidence of looting of palliatives and relief materials stashed away in warehouses in some states of the country during the #EndSars protest. I, as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, want to categorically state that the Palliatives donated to the Ministry by the Nigerian Customs Services, National Strategic Grain Reserve, and many good willing donors were handed to State officials for onward distribution to the poor and vulnerable in thier states.

I will refer you to the Ministry’s website for a breakdown on Palliatives. Please visit www.fmhds.gov.ng

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to emphatically state that the collaboration and collective efforts by all our agencies have cushioned the effect of the lockdown in the country, particularly in the already vulnerable sections of Nigeria.

I would also like to recognize that the media are friends of the Ministry and it is our collective responsibility to work hand in hand to get the correct information across to the public.

In as much as the Ministry has done quite a lot in delivering on its mandate, it is still facing numerous challenges, such as funding. Nevertheless, it is my duty to make sure that these challenges do not impede our efforts to build a sustainable social protection apparatus that will protect our most vulnerable citizens and restore hope to the hopeless. I therefore reiterate the commitment of actualizing our effort of promoting human dignity.

With this Ministerial Press Briefing, I want to assure the general public that the Ministry will continue to discharge its duties with greater focus on the strategy to lift many Nigerians out of poverty in the nearest future. I also wish to reiterate our commitment to the vision of creating sustainable and inclusive social systems that promote human dignity in Nigeria.

Thank you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.