 To commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the federal government has launched the renewed hope conditional cash transfer for 15 million households across the country. President Bola Tinibu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, at the launch held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, assured Nigerians of the administration's commitment to restructure the humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation ministry with a seven-year roadmap to tackle food insecurity and hunger, eradicate poverty, drive economic growth and create jobs. The president, who pledged investment of 75 billion Naira to support small and medium enterprises and start-ups, said his government will lead from the front in seeking to ensure that all Nigerians have decent opportunities for dignified work and sustained social protection. The government will lead from the front in seeking to ensure that all Nigerians have decent opportunities for dignified work and sustained social protection. Today, my administration is launching the renewed hope conditional cash transfer program for venerable groups as an immediate intervention to caution the effects of fewer subsidy remover and other economic shocks. However, the government is working to develop and deploy several more solutions and interventions to help Nigerians of all works of life. This includes, A, investment of 100 billion to purchase 3,000 units of 20-sitter compressed natural gas-powered buses for cheaper transportation, B, investment of 200 billion Naira to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmland to improve food security, C, the release of 2,000 metric tons of grains from the strategic grain reserves to households across 36 states and the federal capital territory. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Elevation, Beta Edu, reiterated the resolve of President Tinambo to pull Nigerians out of poverty while mitigating humanitarian crisis across the country. Each survey conditional cash transfer of 75,000 Naira will reach about 61 million Nigerians. In total, 15 million households will be receiving 75,000 Naira over a space of three months. This equates to about 61 million Nigerians directly, directly benefiting from the conditional cash transfer. Why do we call it conditional cash transfer and what really can it do for Nigerians? It was sincere with ourselves and as a country, we all must put our hands together to make progress. We must recognize the fact that indeed there is need for that urgent intervention to Nigerians. Nigerians need to feel the renewed hope agenda. With 75,000 Naira, it's enough to start a small-scale business. On his part, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said President Tinambo is committed to aggressively elevate poverty through many economic empowerment initiatives. If you give people cash directly, you reduce poverty. You help them in a significant way. So I commend this particular initiative and I know it is one of the package that Mr. President has for Nigerians and let me just say finally, there is concern when payments are being made like this and in this particular case, the audit trail is there. The mechanism that is going to be used is one that is biometric. It is proven you will be able to name every single person that has received those funds. So Nigerians can rest assured that this is an efficient and accountable way of providing relief to poor Nigerians. Let me say that this has taken, you know, it's been a while to get to this point because the first thing that needed to happen was, in fact, it began on the first day of this administration with His Excellency the President making that bold announcement about eliminating fuel subsidies and then that was an incredibly bold move, one that had been, you know, not taken in the past for many years and why was it so bold because those funds that were being going towards keeping the price of PMS low, yes, it helped many ordinary Nigerians but the bulk of those funds, funds that could have been used for healthcare, basic education, rural roads were going elsewhere, leaking out to neighboring countries and yet, you know, it's understandable that taking such a move would require real political courage and His Excellency the President was willing to take that and that's where the renewed hope, in terms of a better future for Nigeria, it starts there because otherwise the government would not be able to afford the many services, what it owes to the Nigerian people in terms of investing in Nigeria's children, in terms of building roads, in terms of offering the economic opportunities to Nigeria's youth. So that was the starting point, that bold decision. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news, please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.