Loannis Plotas, the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria, has expressed his country’s readiness to support the federal government in lifting Nigerians out of poverty. 

Mr Plotas made the commitment on Thursday when he met with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, in Abuja.

The envoy said his visit was to further strengthen cooperation between Nigeria and Greece to support the country`s humanitarian response.

Mr Plotas, who stated that Greece had provided humanitarian support to other countries, said the Greek government recognised that millions of Nigerians needed help in some states. 

“So in order to alleviate poverty and to provide whatever we can in the domain of humanitarian efforts, our government is ready to contribute either financially or in kind with certain materials.

“We are committed to doing that. Our government, through the Committee of the Red Cross or the Greek Red Cross Society, has the potential to achieve this goal. We are targeting as many people as possible to lift them out of poverty,’’ Mr Plotas said.

The envoy assured the determination of the Greek government to provide the needed support.

“We are ready to help in this direction and particularly through programmes through certain plans such as to provide whatever we can do,” he said.

In her response, the minister expressed the commitment of Mr Tinubu’s administration to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

“We have a good number of Nigerians who are living below the poverty line, and we will see how we can partner with both the international community and within ourselves to come up with policies, plans, projects, and programmes that can lift these people out of poverty.

“Our core mandate in the ministry is to manage, prevent and mitigate humanitarian crises as well as help people who are going through humanitarian crises to recover while reintegrating them back into the community.

“ And we are committed as a government led by President Bola Tinubu to see Nigerians come out of poverty, and he has started the engagement. 

(NAN)