The Greece Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ioannis Plotas has expressed his country`s readiness to support the Federal Government in its efforts to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
Plotas stated this when he met with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu on Thursday in Abuja.
The envoy said his visit was to strengthen cooperation between Nigeria and Greece to support the country`s humanitarian response.
“My visit was to explore the possibilities of further cooperation on the domain of humanitarian affairs.
“We have the expertise on these issues because we have provided several to different countries across the globe.
“Nigeria is in the domain and it constitutes our main priority because the African continent is our priority.
“We are recognising the fact that there are people in need and there are communities in need especially in certain states of Nigeria.
“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 do that 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’’ Plotas said.
The envoy assured the determination of the Greek government to provide the needed support.
Responding, the minister expressed commitment of the Tinubu administration to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
While commending the long standing relationship that exists between the two countries, the minister expressed determination to build to build on it and ensure that Nigerians benefitted.
She said the ministry will ensure a robust and sustainable poverty alleviation programme, especially a social safety net that will capture the vulnerable groups in Nigeria.
“We have a good number of Nigerians who are living below the poverty line, and we will see how we can partner the international community and within ourselves to come up with policies 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 crisis to recover while reintegrate them back into the community.
“We are committed as a government led by Tinubu to see Nigerians come out of poverty and he has started the engagement.
(NAN)
