North Has More Poor People, Deserves More Revenue Allocation — Ministerial Nominee

The ministerial nominee for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda, has revealed that about 65% of poor people live in the northern part of Nigeria, hence the region deserve more allocation based on needs assessment.

Yilwatda said this while speaking before Senators in a Committee of the Whole during his screening for confirmation as a Minister and member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday.

Speaking on what methods should be deployed to alleviate poverty in Nigeria, Yilwatda said, “65% of poor people live in the North while 35% live in the South, we should talk about what is needed in each local government and states, revenue allocation should be shared by how poor or rich states are.”

Yilwatda was thereafter asked to take a ‘bow and leave’.

LEADERSHIP reports that Yilwatda was nominated by President Bola Tinubu last week to replace the suspended and subsequently discharged Betta Edu in FEC as the minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.

The Senate will later in the day decide whether to confirm the nominee for the ministerial appointment or not at plenary.