The Federal Government has announced plans to
distribute ?300,000 interest-free and collateral-free loans to 21,000
Nigerians in a new initiative aimed at mitigating the impact of flooding
and strengthening food security across the country.
The Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and
Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, disclosed this on Monday during
a roundtable event in Abuja marking the 2025 International Day for
Disaster Risk Reduction.
The event was attended by Vice President Kashim
Shettima, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Governor Dauda Lawal of
Zamfara State, lawmakers, and international partners.
According to Sununu, the intervention is part of
President Bola Tinubu’s Hope Agenda, which aims to improve the
resilience of local communities affected by natural and economic shocks.
“We are planning, together with both national and
state levels, to improve our flood mitigating efforts by doling out, in the
next few weeks, interest-free and collateral-free loans of over ?300,000 each
to 21,000 Nigerians,”
he said.
He also revealed that the Federal Government has
reached 8.1 million households nationwide through the Conditional
Cash Transfer Scheme, with over ?300 billion already disbursed to
boost household income, health, and education outcomes.
Sununu further highlighted efforts to empower internally
displaced persons (IDPs) through a new agricultural initiative in
partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, which will ensure
IDPs receive 30% of farm produce, while the government off-takes the
remaining 70%, paying participants in cash.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zubaida Umar, emphasized the
need for a shift from reactive to proactive disaster management.
She noted that Nigeria is facing increasing disasters
driven by climate change, conflict, pandemics, and technological risks,
stressing the importance of sustainable and well-financed risk management
frameworks.
Umar announced the launch of two major policy
frameworks — the NEMA Strategic Plan (2025–2029) and the National
Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2025–2030) — which will guide national
efforts towards risk-informed development, innovative financing,
and cross-sectoral resilience.
“Resilience must be mainstreamed across sectors — from
agriculture, water resources, energy, and infrastructure to finance, education,
and health,”
she said, adding that NEMA is developing a National Risk Monitoring and
Information Platform for early warning, vulnerability mapping, and
data-driven investment decisions.
Comments:
Leave a Reply