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Coalition for a better Nigeria has commended President Bola Tinubu for including vulnerable ex-service men, widows and dependants of fallen heroes in the National Social Register, for them to benefit from the conditional cash transfer and other social intervention programmes.
Recall that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu,had during a visit to the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday, said the Federal Government has expanded the welfare scheme to accommodate ex-service men, their widows and dependants in fulfilment of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s promise to Nigerians.
According to Edu, the new innovation became necessary to include those who paid the supreme price for the sustainance of the peace of the country and their dependants to serve as a morale booster for those currently securing the country.
She sought for the accurate data of the affected ex-service men and their dependants to enable them to be captured in the ongoing national social register verification
”This scheme is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu renewed hope agenda and I am here to inform you that the programme has been expanded to accommodate retired personnel of Ministry of Defence, mostly families of those who lost their lives in the course of defending the country.
“Their wives can use this to start up small businesses that will help their children stay in school and provide basic health care and even sustain the families. Of course, Honourable Minister sir, this gusture is not only limited to the N75,000 per household,” she added.
The Minister said the Federal Government has created Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which is geared towards helping small scale businesses and boosting the welfare of Nigerian market women and farmers that the ex- service men and widows can key into.
Edu equally called on the Ministry of Defence to collaborate with her ministry to ensure Tinubu succeeds in eradicating poverty in Nigeria.
She reiterated her ministry’s readiness to ensure that those who served the country meritoriously and died in active service are not left behind in the scheme.
The minister also requested the Minister of Defence to provide adequate security cover for humanitarian workers while going about to carry out their national assignment in all the states prone to insecurity.
Responding, Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, said the visit was timely and thanked Edu for including the retirees in the welfare scheme, which he said will go a long way to renew the hope of retired officers and their families and motivate the working officers to secure Nigeria’s territororial integrity.
Badaru, who was flanked by the Minister of State, Bello Matawalle, assured that the Defence Ministry will collaborate with its Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation counterpart to ensure proper coordination of the scheme.
“We want you to send our sincere appreciation to Mr. President for doing the exceptional by considering us. We thank him for giving you this opportunity to help the nation and also we thank God for giving you the opportunity to be innovative on the job that you’re doing. When you met the Chief of Defence Staff, the words came round that you are supporting the military, all our team became delighted and happy,” he said.
Speaking, Chairman of Nigerian Legion, Major General Abdulmalik Jubril (Rtd), thanked President Bola Tinubu and Edu for the new innovation, saying “this has never happened before.”
He said the legion is the last hope for retired officers, which he said keeps increasing in numbers.
Jubril said the legion need health care, welfare and amd means of livelihood for its members.
‘”This organ of the military (Army, Airforce and Navy) retirees need government’s support. Gesture like this has not been given to us before including wives and families of the fallen heroes.”
Reacting in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Com Awa Baking, the group said this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that a government’s welfare programme will capture vulnerable ex-service men and their families.
“We at Coalition for a Better Nigeria appreciates the supreme price paid at war front by these ex service men. It is common belief that the extended scheme must also cover our heroes and heroines of democracy (alive or dead), their widows and their dependants because any attempt to ignore this noble class of civilians, most especially in a democratic settings like this, won’t speak well of this noble and geniune efforts.
“As an organisation with national outlook, which has been celebrating these heroes and heroines for decades, we are more than ready to partner with the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, to ensure her success,” he said.