July 26, 2022

A bill to establish National Poverty Alleviation Management Commission on Tuesday passed second reading at the Senate.

This was sequel to the presentation of the lead debate on the bill by the sponsor, Sen. Kabir Barkiya (APC-Katsina) during plenary.

The bill is entitled “A Bill for an act to establish National Poverty Alleviation Management Commission”.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Barkiya said that it was first read on Jan. 19.

He said that the bill when passed would have tremendous impact on the reduction of poverty level in Nigeria.

“The passage of the bill will effectively and efficiently regulate all forms of funds provided to alleviate poverty in the land, especially to remedy the suffering of our citizens,” he said.

The lawmaker said that the bill would effectively reduce youth restiveness emanating from poverty and unemployment by making available fund available for productive use through a transparent manner in order to achieve the core objective.

Seconding the debate, Sen. Adamu Aliero (PDP-Kebbi) said that the poverty level in Nigeria has reached an alarming proportion to the extent that in some states, over 80 per cent of the population live in abject poverty.

“Billions of naira have been budgeted annually for poverty alleviation but it doesn’t reach the target population,” he said.

Aliero said there was need to coordinate all funds for poverty alleviation to ensure they got to the targeted population.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan thereafter referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation for further legislative matter and report back within four weeks.(NAN)