The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has assured the new Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, of its commitment to support the humanitarian response and poverty alleviation with $270m in Nigeria.

UNICEF disclosed this when its Country Representative, Christian Mundate led the Chief of Health & HIV/AIDS, Eduardo Celades, to the Minister in her office in Abuja.

The UNICEF Chief also assured the Minister of technical support to build capacity of the Ministry's staff as well as support the development of a Humanitarian Response Protocol for Nigeria to guide all Humanitarian Actors as this will facilitate effective coordination.

In addition, UNICEF will support the establishment of a National Humanitarian Situation Room or Humanitarian Emergency Operation Centre (H-EOC) to monitor, mitigate and prevent humanitarian emergencies and build resilience in the system.

Responding, the Minister, Dr. Betta Edu, informed the UNICEF delegation that the Federal Government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was committed to lifting 133 million poor Nigerians out of poverty in a phased approach, especially the 71 million extremely poor Nigerians, who live below $1.95 a day, by the year 2030 in line with the SDG Goal 1 to eradicate poverty by 2030.

She charged UNICEF to also draw up plans towards supporting the Federal Government on poverty alleviation.

"Time is of essence, and we need to run at the speed of light to roll out social programs that will bring relief to the burdens of the poor. Nigerians are eagerly waiting for full implementation of the Renewed Hope agenda, the time for intense action is now," Edu stated.

While she assured the visitors of the commitment to transparency and accountability in all the processes of the Ministry, the Minister told them that the engagement with partners like UNICEF will continue until government achieves its target.