The Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made an important announcement. Vulnerable ex-servicemen, widows, and dependents of fallen heroes have been included in the National Social Register to benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer and other Social Intervention programs.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, during an official visit to the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Dr Edu explained that the federal government had expanded the welfare scheme to accommodate ex-servicemen, their widows, and dependants. This is in fulfillment of President Tinubu’s promise to Nigerians under his Renewed Hope agenda.
The minister said that this innovation became necessary to include those who paid the supreme price for the sustenance of peace in the country and their dependants to serve as a morale booster for those currently securing the country.
Dr Edu sought accurate data on the affected ex-servicemen and their dependants to enable them to be captured in the ongoing national social register verification. She added that the scheme is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.
The program has been expanded to accommodate retired personnel of the Ministry of Defence, mostly families of those who lost their lives in the course of defending the country. She said that their wives can use this to start small businesses that will help their children stay in school, provide basic healthcare and even sustain the families.
The Minister said that the federal government has created the Government Enterprise Empowerment Program (GEEP), which is geared towards helping small-scale businesses and boosting the welfare of Nigerian market women and farmers, which the ex-servicemen and widows can key into.
Dr Edu equally called on the Ministry of Defence to collaborate with the Humanitarian Ministry to ensure President Bola Ahmed succeeds in eradicating poverty in Nigeria. In his response, the Honorable Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, said the visit was timely and thanked Dr Edu for including the retirees in the welfare scheme, which he said, would go a long way to renew the hope of retired officers and their families and motivate the working officers to secure the Nigeria territorial integrity.
The Defence Minister who was accompanied at the event by his Minister, Bello Mattawale, said be rest assured that the Defence Ministry will collaborate with its Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation counterpart to ensure proper coordination of the scheme.
The Chairman of Nigeria Legion, Major General Abdulmalik Jubril (RTD), thanked President Bola Tinubu and Dr Edu for the innovation, saying “This has never happened before”.
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