REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY SENATOR (DR.) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, DECLARING OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION COMMISSION BILL, ON TUESDAY, 7 JUNE 2016.
 
Protocol;
1.  I want to begin by thanking the Senate Joint Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare, and National Planning and Economic Affairs for their expedited action in reviewing the Bill for the establishment of a National Poverty Eradication Commission.
 
2.  The Joint Committees work over the past month, has served to ensure that this Bill has reached this public hearing stage; where stakeholders like all of us in this room, can contribute in an interactive manner towards strengthening the provisions and discuss any flaws or loopholes that may exist in this critical piece of legislation.
 
3.  I want to also thank all of you that have travelled from far and wide to attend today’s hearing. As you all know, the Senate considers this bill as one of its priority pieces of legislation. This is because the National Poverty Eradication Bill aims to put an end to an issue that many Nigerians suffer from daily. 
 
 
 
 
 
4.  The World Bank estimates for 2016, suggests that Nigeria’s ‘Poverty Headcount Ratio’, which is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty lines, stands at 46%. Other developmental partners suggest that the rise in the cost of living around the world, due to the global drop in oil prices, will further negatively affect the poor and middle class.
 
5.  In a similar vein, recent reports by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) highlights that our unemployment rate stands at 9.9%.
 
6.  As we are all aware Ladies and Gentlemen, the higher the rates of poverty and unemployment in a system, the more insecurity exists in that system.
 
7.  In this regard, the Senate has taken on the challenge to establish a National Poverty Eradication Commission to serve as a data bank on all poverty-related issues in the country. This bill seeks to allow the Commission, once fully operational, to act as the preeminent government agency that would be tasked with catalysing resources for the purpose of addressing and eradicating poverty in the country.
 
 
 
 
 
8.  Furthermore, in an effort to track our progress on the ‘poverty front’; in line with Nigeria’s commitment to meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Number 1, which aims to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere,” the Poverty Eradication Commission will be saddled with the responsibility of informing Nigerians quarterly of percentage reductions in poverty. 
 
9.  These efforts would go a long way in holistically confronting the issue of poverty that has and still negatively impacts millions of lives in Nigeria.
 
10.     At this juncture, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to reiterate the 8th Senate’s commitment toward ensuring that your consequential views and recommendations will be taken into account in the report of this bill.
 
11.      Therefore, it is important that you all contribute freely and fully in this pivotal legislative intervention process that aims to curb poverty in our great nation.
 
12.     I would also like to urge the Joint Committee to return the report of this hearing in good time to the full plenary, where we can consider it for the third time as a body of the whole.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13.     I thank you all once again for coming, and on this note, on behalf of the 8th Senate, I hereby declare the Public Hearing open.
 
14.     God bless you. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

This is the type of the Bill we want in the National Assembly. I hope the committee saddle with the responsibility will quickly work on the Bill and return it to the House as quick as possible because poverty in the land is not a child play. Therefore, we hope for the quick passage of the Bill.