THISDAY
A United States-based civil right activist, Mr. Kayode Michael Arimoro, has revealed that the removal of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, is worsening the poverty situation in the country.
Arimoro, who is the founder of Sustainable National Movement, stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday.
He said millions of vulnerable Nigerians who relied on the ministry and its programmes to survive were currently languishing in abject poverty since Edu was removed and her activities suspended.
Arimoro insisted that the Economic and the Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could still have been allowed to conduct its investigation without removing Edu or stopping her ministry’s poverty alleviation programmes.
He said: “Getting the ministry’s working right would have solved Nigeria’s problems by over 70 per cent, with 133 million people living below poverty line and an additional 10 million people thrown into poverty between January and April 2024 according to World Bank Macro Poverty Outlook for Nigeria: April 2024.
“That was the least deliverable that Edu promised to deliver, and she was all hands-on deck from her first day in office.”
He said Edu had travelled across the country to visit the very poorest at the remotest areas in the country immediately she was appointed.
According to him, “Edu had been managing Internally Displaced Persons, Disable and the Vulnerable at large.
“The corrupt system orchestrated ways to force her out of office. Little wonder that by the end of December 2023 an international paper, The Guardian UK, and several organisations rated her as the best minister in 2023 after months of a sterling performance.
“The young minister was everywhere both within and outside the country to campaign with President Bola Tinubu during the elections.
“She believes strongly in Tinubu’s eight-point agenda targeted at reducing poverty and fighting corruption, among other points.
“She was diligent enough to expose a N44.8 billion unapproved transfer in December 2023 by the National Social Investment Programme which is under the supervision of her ministry.
“The president took a positive step in line with his determination to fight corruption by suspending the government official (national coordinator) involved.
“Little did he know that the large network of prospective beneficiaries from that unapproved transfer which is part of a systemic corruption will come fighting back with false propaganda to remove the minister at all cost and tarnish her image.
“How else can we explain the suspension of someone who exposed the fraud that occurred in a ministry?nbsp;
“N44.8bn was transferred without approvals from the president, Federal Executive Council or even the knowledge of the minister.
“Dr. Betta Edu queries this action, and off she goes suspended within seven days. How does that make any sense?
