TheCable

Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, has called for partnership with the ministry of interior to address issues of internal security and human trafficking in Nigeria.

Edu spoke on Tuesday when she paid a courtesy visit to Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, in Abuja.

She said the collaboration would help in tackling the major factors responsible for humanitarian crisis and poverty.

She listed illegal migration, internal security, and human trafficking as some of the causes of the humanitarian crisis in the country, adding that it is important to find lasting solutions to the challenges.

“We are here for serious business and for us to succeed, the president has said we must team up and there must be inter-sectoral and ministerial collaboration to achieve success,” she said.

“My new responsibilities focus on covering a greater population of vulnerable Nigerians, providing them with humanitarian services and alleviating their poverty in line with President Tinubu’s agenda.

“The president is committed to seeing that Nigerians smile again, and reduce the number of people living below the poverty line to the barest minimum.

“Hon minister, my coming here is to quickly speak with you because your ministry is one of the ministries that will make my job easier.”

She said there is also need for collaboration with security agencies to achieve the president’s agenda.

“The president is committed to seeing that he reduces the number of persons who are exposed or prone to a humanitarian crisis,” she said.

“I am saying this because a lot of our work depends on how well you do your work in the ministry of interior.

“We need your support and we need it at all levels.

“The heads of security agencies here at this meeting will help to work with our team to gather intelligence on how people are moving in and out of our country.

“There are issues of human trafficking, child labour, and sexual exploitation, amongst other things which lead to humanitarian crises.

“We cannot continue to allow this trend to go unattended. It’s not acceptable.

“We need your support. We need intelligence from you. We just got the approval for officers from NAPTIP to be present at the different ports.

“We need you to know the importance of our collaboration with you on the border. We have to find ways to step up our intelligence in Nigeria, we have too many illegal borders.”