The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that about 90 million people, almost half of the country’s population live in extreme poverty.

The country’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq stated this in Abuja on Monday when she appeared before the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development to defend the ministry’s 2020 budget proposal.

The minister stressed that her ministry has the enormous responsibility of addressing some of the underlining causes, drivers and consequences of humanitarian crises and underdevelopment in the country.

She disclosed that nearly half of the country’s 198 million population live in extreme poverty, that over 40 million of its citizens are either unemployed or underemployed with over two million Internally Displaced Persons.

Mrs. Farouq said there was an estimated 230,000 Nigerian refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroon and 45,000 refugees in Nigeria. Nigeria,according to her, has over 22 million persons with disabilities while 14 million persons have one form of drug and substance abuse or the other. She noted that there are growing needs among the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

The Minister said the proposed total 2020 budget for the ministry was N3,582,102,000 comprising of N499, 975,000 for recurrent expenditure and N3,082,127,000 for capital expenditure.

She added that her ministry has six agencies under its supervision namely the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, the National Emergency Management Agency and the National Social Investment Office.

Others she said are the North East Development Commission, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).