President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has restated its commitment to restore the livelihood of poor, vulnerable Nigerians and maintain food security.

The minister of state for budget and national planning, Clem Agba, gave the assurance at the maiden ministerial town hall meeting on the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) held in Sokoto on Monday.

Mr Agba also reiterated the commitment of the regime to facilitate the recovery of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

He assured that Mr Buhari’s regime would continue to deliver development to Nigerians even if it has only a few weeks to hand over to a new administration.

The minister explained that the NG-CARES programme was one of the policy options explored by the Buhari regime to restore the livelihood of the poor and vulnerable.

According to him, NG-CARES has impacted over two million direct beneficiaries in about a year of full implementation.

“This is based on the report of the first round of assessment of the NG-CARES programme implementation conducted by an independent verification agent,” noted the minister.

Mr Agba added that one of Mr Buhari’s strategies was to intermittently meet with and engage stakeholders as part of the regime’s accountability to the citizens.

“The purpose basically is to hear, first-hand, views of our people on government policies and programmes and to feel the pulse of the nation. This interaction is even more imperative, given the fact that the NG-CARES programme draws some of its beneficiaries from the National Social Register,” the minister explained further.

Mr Agba said, “It is important to find out from you how effective this approach is as we seek the consolidation of the National Social Register as a major source of credible data for social protection intervention in the country.”

(NAN)