Meet The Former INEC REC, APC Guber Candidate Replacing Betta Edu As Minister

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday appointed Nentawe Yilwatda as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.

Naija News recall that Tinubu had sacked the former All Progressives Congress (APC), Betta Edu, who had held the position of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Edu, a former Cross River State Commissioner of Health, had been suspended following corruption investigation carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The appointment of Nentawe Yilwatda, a former gubernatorial candidate of the APC in Plateau State, as Minister was made known on Wednesday in a statement to journalists by the Presidency.

Profile of newly appointed Minister, Nentawe Yiltwatda

Dr Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda was born on the 8th of August, 1968 in Dungung, Kanke LG to the family of a clergy, Late Rev and Mrs Toma Yilwatda.

Dr. Yilwatda’s educational career started with him passing the First School Leaving Certificate at LGED Primary School, Dungung in 1981 and GCE (O/Level) in 1986 from the prestigious Boys’ Secondary School, Gindiri.

He got his First Degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering in 1992 from Federal University Agriculture, Makurdi and his Master of Engineering and PhD from ATBU Bauchi and University of Nigeria, Nsukka respectively where he specialized in Digital systems engineering.

Nentawe is a registered Engineer with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), member Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, member Nigeria Society of Engineers, member Solar Society of Nigeria and has enjoyed many awards and recognitions in the area of ICT and electronic engineering

He was also trained by the United Nations University International Institute for Software Tech., Macau, China on Building Electronic Governance Structure.

He is a community developer and a lecturer with Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi with over 29 years of experience working as a consultant with the international development partners, and the public and private sectors.

Nentawe Yilwatda started his career as Assistant Lecturer at Plateau State Polytechnic in 1995 and later joined Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi as Graduate Assistant in 1996.

He served in various administrative positions including Head of Department, Director of Information Technology and member of Senate of the University.

Dr Nentawe was appointed Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017. He was posted to Benue State as Resident Electoral Commissioner.

While at INEC, he championed IDP voting by designing template to enable Internally Displaced Persons to exercise their civic right during elections. He also supervised difficult elections including Recall process of Senator Dino Melaye in 2018 and Rivers State Governorship and House of Assembly polls in 2019.

He has served as project consultants on the first Integrated Financial Management Information System for the Ministry of Finance, CBN, FOS, OAGF, Debt Management Office, OAuGF, National Planning Commission and Budget Office. This gave him the opportunity to have a firm knowledge of revenue and financial framework of Nigeria, the regulations, policies and opportunities.

He was also part of the team that worked on the grant by World Bank to implement a Unified Network and ICT Solution for Nigeria Education and Research Network (NgREN) through the World Bank STEP-B project.

In the last 12 years, he has been providing scholarship and paying JAMB for 200 kids from Kanke and Pankshin annually in addition hiring teachers to train them. He supports those that pass JAMB to secure admission into higher institutions.

In 2018, he trained 100 youths from Kanke and Pankshin in animal husbandry which was anchored by Veterinary Research Institute, Vom. All the trainees that participated in the 10 months internship were empowered to set up their piggeries.

In 2019, he distributed 112 laptops to indigent students of higher institutions in Pankshin and Kanke.

Nentawe is also the co-founder of Bikatki cooperative which supports rural poor farmers to access credit to expand their farms in order to reduce poverty and have sustainable income.

He has spearheaded building of classrooms in primary schools for indigent and hard to reach communities, and also participated actively in the development of the community secondary school in his village.

Culled Dr Nentawe Yilwatda Website