Among the newly appointed ministers is Dr Nentawe Goshwe Yilwadta, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, who was the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate for the 2023 general election in Plateau State.

In this appointment, President Bola Tinubu continued his political appeasement approach in setting up his government apparatus. Nentawe is a political protégé of Senator Simon Lalong who, as Governor of Plateau State (2015 to 2023), was the Director-General of Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council.

Tinubu also continued the tradition of appointing politically-exposed officials to head a ministry that, critics argue, should be handed to a humanitarian activist with track records of performance in similar fields, and incorruptibility. The two previous Ministers – Sadiya Umar Farouk and Betta Edu – were shoved aside in controversial circumstances.

We hope Yilwadta will meet the expectations of Nigerians by cleaning the Augean stable and demonstrate capacity. He is coming at a time that Nigerians face many ongoing and potential humanitarian challenges which need visionary, proactive, patriotic and competent leadership.

Nigeria is still designated as the poverty capital of the world, an unenviable pit we fell into in 2018 and continue to sink deeper into, with government’s draconian economic policies in 2024. In August this year, the country was shaken to its roots by protests calling for the end of hunger and hardship.

Nigeria is also the ninth in the world with internally displaced persons, IDPs, which last year stood at 3,340,000, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Four of our six geopolitical zones: North-East, North-West, North-Central and South-West are spotted with many IDP camps, and many of the displaced persons are in the hands of their Boko Haram, bandit captors and kidnappers. There are IDP camps in Edo State holding refugees from the North.

Also, Nigeria faces an annual flooding menace that ensues toward the tail end of each rainy season, with many communities situated along the major river banks and flood plains forced to leave their homes.

Nigerians expect Minister Yilwadta to go beyond the lazy and corruption-laden antic of disbursing the usual palliatives and visiting displaced persons’ camps and disaster victims for photo-ops. A comprehensive template for adequate prevention and management of disasters and effective reduction of poverty, especially youth poverty, must be created, funded and executed.

Youth poverty is an insidious disease, a time-bomb that threatens the future of this country. Due to poverty, many eligible young men are shying away from marriage, and many eligible ladies are waiting endlessly for suitors. Poverty is threatening to fracture our society in the near future, and must be tackled now.

Nigerians expect the president and his minister to end the corrupt jamboree in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.

Enough is enough.