By Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja

The new minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry, Dr Betta Edu, yesterday urged all staff and partners to drop any baggage that won’t let them do their job.

She said her administration was going to be very sincere, transparent, and accountable.

Edu, who stated this when she assumed duties, said she planned to move at the speed of light as there was so much work to be done and there are over 16.5 million people who are affected by the humanitarian crisis, living below $1 per day.

On arrival at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Edu was received by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Nasir Sani Gwarzo, directors of the different agencies under the ministry, and head of parastatals, among others.

Addressing the staff of the ministry, Edu declared that she was anxious to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians by fulfilling her mandate in the ministry.

She said, “We will be introducing new grass root life-changing based ideas. We are going to be tactical and smart about it.”

She declared that her focus is to lift 133 million Nigerians out of poverty, adding, We will play down on politics, some baggage, and face the real result we are here for. I will do my best to ensure that we are one of the best ministries in Nigeria, working directly with our president. We will do our best to meet all the needs of those in humanitarian crises. We will push the limit and break the glass plate.”

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She added, “Today is the 4th anniversary of this ministry. There is always a time for a step up and when it’s time for a step up, God will usually send a messenger to take it to that level-the level of renewed hope.

“I am happy to meet all of you here today and I bring you the goodwill of the president of our country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has an agenda and the agenda is simple -renew the hopes of Nigerians.

“There is a whole lot of work to be done. I will take my time with you for a few days to go through some data. We learnt that we have 136 million poor Nigerians, let’s assume with all honesty that the data that we have is 200 million Nigerians which I think there are more than that, and 136 million Nigerians are poor is alarming and it is completely unacceptable to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our dear president.

“Of course, different data sources have said we have over 71 million extremely poor persons living in Nigeria.”

She explained the reason why the ministry was renamed from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development to its new name be to refocus, get down to business with their impact felt in every single spot in the country, reach those who are underserved, those who are poor and those who need a renewed hope.

She stressed that the ministry would increase its efforts while she promised to be accountable to Nigerians.

“We are going to speak out and tell that what we are doing, it’s not a secret business. If we are spending one naira, it would be one naira and if we are spending N10bn, it would be N10bn and Nigerians must be able to feel the result of that expenditure,” Edu promised.