Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, the minister for humanitarian affairs and poverty reduction, has been unanimously elected as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The decision was made at the party’s National Executive Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
“OFFICIAL: Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda has been elected as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the 14th meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party,” the ruling party posted on its X account on Thursday.
The APC national chairmanship position has been vacant following the resignation of Umar Ganduje last month.
Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda was born on August 8, 1968, in Dungung, Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State. He comes from a religious family, being the son of the late Rev. and Mrs. Toma Yilwatda.
Yilwatda has an extensive academic background, beginning with his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, which he earned in 1992.
He went on to obtain a Master of Engineering from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi and later a PhD from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, specialising in Digital Systems Engineering.
His pursuit of knowledge didn’t end there; he also received training in Building Electronic Governance Structure from the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology in Macau, China.
In addition to his academic achievements, Yilwatda has held prominent roles in major national and international projects.
He served as a project consultant on Nigeria’s first Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), which was implemented for key government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Office of Statistics, and the Debt Management Office.
His expertise was further highlighted through his involvement in the World Bank-funded STEP-B project, where he helped implement the Nigeria Education and Research Network (NgREN), a unified network and ICT solution for educational institutions across the country.
In 2023, Yilwatda was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State, but lost at the poll to Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Until his emergence as APC national chairman, Yilwatda was the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation appointed by President Bola Tinubu in 2024. He replaced Betta Edu, who was suspended from heading the ministry in January 2024, following an allegation of diversion of a N585 million federal government grant meant for the vulnerable into private accounts.
In addition to his ministerial role, he serves as a member of the Presidential Economic Management Team and chairman of the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development.(BusinessDay)
