The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, has revealed that at least 3,160 individuals have been displaced following recent violent incidents in Yelwata, a community in Benue State.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Yilwatda said the displacement crisis in Yelwata is among a series of humanitarian challenges currently confronting the federal government.
He highlighted others, such as floods, insurgency, and the alarming rate of child malnutrition across Northern Nigeria.
“Of recent, we had the Mokwa flood. We had the killings in Plateau and Benue. We had also the Borno crisis,” he stated. “These are some of the key issues that we have and that we’ve been trying to address.”
According to him, the ministry acted following a presidential directive issued by President Bola Tinubu after visiting the affected state.
The ministry conducted a needs assessment in Yelwata to evaluate the scope of the damage and humanitarian needs.
“In Yelwata, we discovered that 3,160 people were displaced in the community. About 810 children that are within school age were displaced,” the minister revealed.
He noted that the attacks left a trail of devastation, wiping out critical infrastructure and livelihoods.
“We discovered that we lost roughly about 48 homes. And then we have shops that were also attacked and destroyed, and other businesses,” he said.
Yilwatda stressed that the complexity of the crisis demands a unified response from all tiers of government, non-governmental organisations, and global partners.
“We need a comprehensive action by all the partners that are required to work on it. Some of the problems cannot be solved by the federal government alone,” he said.
To tackle the humanitarian fallout and chart a path toward recovery, he explained that the ministry has engaged with local communities, NGOs, and other stakeholders to design an integrated intervention strategy.
“We did a comprehensive assessment covering the humanitarian needs, the peace-building response plan, and we did also the long-term and durable solution for the community,” he stated.
