The ministry’s meagre budget allocation has been bemoaned by Dr. Beta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, who claims it is insufficient to reduce poverty.

She raised the alarm while defending the 2024 budget of the ministry at the National Assembly on Tuesday in Abuja.

She bemoaned before the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation, chaired by Senator Idiat Adebule, that the N532.5 billion budget, which is a 28% increase over the 2023 budget to offset inflation, was woefully insufficient.

She maintained that the current economy’s inflation rate of 27.33 percent does not correspond with the 28% increase in the overhead ceiling.

She stated that the 2023 capital budget ceiling was 71 percent lower than the 2022 cap of N3.7 billion, or N1.328316 billion.

Edu pleaded with the panel to check her envelope and increase it to combat poverty, following the ministry’s mandate.

Idiat Adebule, the committee chairman, inquired as to whether the minister had given the Trust Fund budget during the budget planning phase.

According to Beta Edu, it was submitted to the Ministry of Budget but was left out of the allocations made to her ministry.

“This was explicitly mentioned as an omission, which is why we are requesting that you submit it as a memo to the committee so they can take it into consideration,” the woman stated.

Beta answered in the affirmative when the committee members asked if she had the memo with her.