A U.S.-based civil rights activist, Kayode Arimoro, says the absence of Betta Edu, a minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, is aggravating the poverty situation in the country.

Mr Arimoro, also the founder of theSustainable National Movement (SNM), said this when he addressed journalists in Abuja on Monday.

He said that millions of vulnerable Nigerians who relied on the ministry and its programmes to survive were languishing in abject poverty since the suspension of the minister.

Mr Arimoro said that the Economic and the Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could have conduct its investigation without the removal of the minister or stopping the ministry’s poverty alleviation programmes.

“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.

He said that the minister travelled across the country to visit the very poorest at the remotest areas in the country immediately she was appointed.

“Edu had been managing Internally Displaced Persons, disabled and the vulnerable at large.

“It’s 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 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,” he said.

He added: “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 systemic corruption, would come fighting back with false propaganda to remove the minister at all costs and tarnish her image.”

Mr Arimoro urged Mr Tinubu to reinstate the suspended minister so her good work could continue.

Ms Edu was suspended by Mr Tinubu in January over alleged misappropriation of public funds.

(NAN)