Nkoyo Etim Reporting
The national leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has asked President Bola Ahemd Tinubu to reinstate the suspended Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.
The group made the appealed known in a press release signed by its spokesman, Comrade Bedford Berefa, after its monthly meeting, in PortHacourt, Rivers State Capital.
It said the need to reinstate her was to continue with the President’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” On Humanitarian Response and Poverty Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria.
Thus the release also made available to Truth Live News read: “Following our investigations and general assessment of her stewardship, Nigerians ,especially the poor and vulnerables are calling for her reinstatement.
Therefore, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has joined in this popular call.”
Also, “While we are not undermining the anti-graft Agency’s efforts to dig in full, what has been happening in the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, it is clear that the enemy of the current administration is out to go after the faces of ‘first eleven’ of the Renewed Hope Team.”
For instance, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria” Report, 40.1% of the total population, or almost 83 million people, live below the country’s poverty line,” says IYC.
Accordingly, “These statistics have increased significantly, owing to the current harsh economic realities and inflation rate of 33.2% in March 2024.
Nevertheless, “The hope of vulnerable and poor Nigerians on President Tinubu is high and they fervently expect him to reach out to them as part of the renewed hope agenda of his administration to end hunger.”
“Dr Edu within her four and half months in office had significantly, impacted on the poor and vulnerable population irrespective of their locations,” the group noted.
“We use this medium to appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government, to as a matter of urgency reinstate Dr Edu.”
The Ijaw youth body believes that “the witch hunting of Dr Edu was orchestrated by mischief makers who do not mean well for the Tinubu’s administration.
Also, the IYC observed that “her suspension has exposed intervention-gap within the humanitarian and poverty Alleviation cluster in the country.”