The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to partner with the United Nations to provide long-lasting solutions to help lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nantawe Yilwatda, disclosed this on Friday while fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja.

He disclosed it shortly after his meeting with Amina Mohammed, the Deputy UN Secretary-General.

Yilwatda said that the UN had been a longstanding ally of the ministry and had helped government in actualising some of its social intervention programmes.

The minister said that the partnership became necessary to drive the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda in addressing youth unemployment, poverty reduction, and support to victims of conflict and climate change.

“We have the opportunity to partner with the UN to ensure that the people affected by insurgency, climate change and other armed conflicts across the country are supported.

“Especially, those that are affected by the impact of economic reforms that we are making to ensure that we give human face to every aspect of the reforms.

“This partnership is going to ensure that we give durable solutions to the plight of our people.

“It will ensure that we lift as many people as possible out of poverty, reduce youth unemployment and ensure that our communities are safe,” he said.

Yilwatda noted that the ministry would soon release its 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan to provide Nigerians with a guide to government’s drive towards addressing poverty in the country.

“We are going to unveil our Humanitarian Response Plan in weeks to come, which will be the need assessment of all the humanitarian problems and challenges across the country.

“Together with the UN, we will work around the world globally to raise funds for the country using that Humanitarian Response Plan.

“Also, within the first quarter of the year the Durable Solution Plan and programme that we are doing will also come to effect.

“I am sure Mr President who is willing to ensure poverty reduction has provided a lot of funding for the safety net, especially, if you check the proposed 2025 Budget, you’ll discover that there are a lot of funding provided for safety nets.

“These are also verifiable plans by the government to ensure that they participate along with the UN in reducing poverty and providing a safety net for the poorest of the poor,” he said.

Yilwatda said that the ministry had a target to create at least two million jobs before the end of the year 2025.

In her response, the UN Deputy Secretary-General assured the federal government of its readiness to partner in addressing the multi-dimensional poverty in the country.

Mohammed said that the ministry was critical to UN’s mission to ensure that people and communities are safe and lifted out of the poverty line.

“People are on the move today, different crisis, it’s climate, it’s conflict, it’s internal displacement through different hardships.

“So that makes this ministry a focal place for providing prevention and dealing with the solutions to humanitarian crises.

“The indices of poverty in the country are high.

“So, when host communities come in, you have to accommodate them as well so that you don’t have the burden of those coming in and creating social tensions,” she said.

Mohammed emphasised the need for more investment in social intervention to address the growing humanitarian needs in the country.

“Huge investment is needed in the country, so that we can have those transitions that will make us more resilient,” she said.

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Emmanuel Fayose, a younger brother to the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has declared his interest to join the governorship race in the state.

In a statement made available to journalists on Friday, January 10, 2025, the younger Fayose said he has resolved to join the gubernatorial contest in the state.

A member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Emmanuel said his ambition stems from his desire to transform the state and return it and the people to the path of development.

Emmanuel said, “I am in the race to dislodge the Oyebanji-led government, and eventually, if I win, I will run an inclusive government that would steer Ekiti in the right direction.”

The PDP chieftain also noted that in addition to the need for the state to redress its steps, he was spurred to contest for the governorship seat following a recent meeting between President Bola Tinubu and his brother, a former Ekiti governor.

According to Emmanuel, the president at the meeting former governor Fayose had told President Tinubu of his intention to support the current administration which has been frowned at by his fellow party members.

Kingmakers in Oyo Town have rejected the appointment of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin by Governor Seyi Makinde, describing it as illegal and unlawful.

It would be recalled that earlier on Friday, the state government announced that Makinde had approved the appointment of a new Alaafin of Oyo, two years after the stool became vacant.

However, five kingmakers from the town have declared the appointment null and void, claiming that they did not recommend such a name to the state government, insisting that the only person they recommended as the next Alaafin is Prince Luqman Gbadegesin.

The kingmakers, who made this declaration in a letter to the governor signed by their legal representative, Adekunle Sobaloju (SAN), include High Chief Yusuf Akínade, Bashorun of Oyo; High Chief Wakeel Akindele, Lagunna of Oyo; High Chief Hamzat Yusuf, Akinniku of Oyo; Chief Wahab Oyetunji, warrant chief stand-in for Asipa of Oyo; and Chief Gbadebo Mufutau, warrant chief stand-in for Alapinní of Oyo.

“You will recall that on 30th September, 2022, at the meeting of the kingmakers in accordance with the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration, 1961, the kingmakers appointed Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin as the Alaafin of Oyo by a majority of the lawful votes of the kingmakers.

“Prince Lukman Adelodun Gbadegesin, having obtained the majority of votes from the kingmakers present and voting, was deemed appointed, and his name was forwarded to Your Excellency as the candidate appointed by the kingmakers as Alaafin of Oyo for your approval, which you refused to approve for no disclosed reason at all. The kingmakers thereafter filed an action to stop Your Excellency from truncating the process, culminating in the present appeal at the Court of Appeal,” the letter read.

They noted that they were surprised that, in the announcement by the government, it claimed that the selection was made after wide consultation and divination.

“We must emphatically state that the Alaafin is not chosen by consultation or divination but in strict compliance with the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, which codifies the native law and custom governing the selection process for the vacant stool of the Alaafin.

“Under the Registered Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy Declaration of 1967, it is only the Bashorun of Oyo, the head of the Oyomesi and kingmakers, who can summon a meeting of the kingmakers for the purpose of selecting a candidate to fill the vacant stool of the Alaafin of Oyo. In this instance, the Bashorun did not summon any such meeting, nor was there any meeting convened in the Alaafin’s palace, as custom demands, where the said Prince Abimbola Akeem Owoade was selected or appointed as the new Alaafin.

“Any meeting of a few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs held at the Governor’s office on the 9th of January, 2025, or elsewhere at the instance of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to select the preferred candidate of the Governor as the new Alaafin is not only contrary to the native law and custom and Chieftaincy Declaration of the Alaafin of Oyo Chieftaincy but unlawful, illegal, invalid, null, and void.

“It is not the duty of the Governor to convene the meeting of a few kingmakers and emergency warrant chiefs to select or appoint a new Alaafin on the 9th of January, 2025, and hurriedly approve the appointment on the 10th of January, 2025,” they added.