In this article, Platinum Times Nigeria archives the biography, family, career and life story of Betta Edu.
Betta Edu is currently serving as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Federal Republic of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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Full Name: Betta Edu
Date of Birth: October 27, 1986
Age: 37yrs (in 2023)
Place of Birth: Abi, Cross River
Religion: Christian
Portfolio: Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation
Biography
Politician from Nigeria named Betta C. Edu. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and serves as the National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum in addition to being the State Commissioner for Health for Cross River.
Betta is a participant in both the All-Progressives Congress (APC) Reconciliation Committee and the Presidential Health Reform Committee.
She is well known for being one of Nigeria’s youngest politicians.
FAMILY
Born on October 27, 1986, Betta Edu is a native of the Cross River State community of Ibalebo in the Abi Local Government Area.
Betta Edu is a devoted wife and mother.
EDUCATION
Betta received her secondary education at Federal Government Girls College in Calabar and graduated from the University of Calabar with a degree in medicine and surgery.
The University of London is where Betta Edu received her master’s degree.
Outside of Nigeria, she went on to get advanced degrees in a variety of medical and leadership fields.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health with a Harvard degree.
CAREER
Politics is not new to Betta Edu, the National Women’s Leader of the All Progressive Congress.
When she was a student at the University of Calabar, her political career began.
In 2007–2008, she served as the university’s Student Union Government’s vice president.
Her appointment as the National Women Leader of the party did not come as a surprise to many because she had previously served as president of the University of Calabar’s female leadership forum.
At 35 years old, she is the eldest female leader to ever hold the office.
The youngest person in the nation, Edu, was chosen in 2015 to serve as Governor Benedict Ayade’s special advisor on community and primary health care.
She was appointed pioneer DG of the Cross River State Primary Health Care Agency in May 2016 and served in that capacity till she was named Cross River State Commissioner for Health in 2019.
Betta Edu presided over the Cross River State COVID-19 Taskforce in 2020.
She established and oversaw the emergency operations center for COVID-19 in the state as well as the Cross River State COVID-19 Response.
She became the National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum in August 2020.
Betta Edu is a philanthropist who supports the education of underprivileged kids in her neighborhood.
Prior to her defection in 2021, Edu was a registered member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seemingly in support of and devotion to her principal, Ayade, who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May 2021.
Her time serving as the state’s commissioner of health was marred by scandal.
After defeating her opponent by 2,662 to 117 votes at the APC National convention in March 2022, Betta Edu became the party’s youngest national women leader.
CONTROVERSY
Dr. Betta Edu ran for her party’s National Women’s Leader position in 2022.
Due to Section 84(12) of the new Nigerian Electoral Act, Dr. Betta Edu was threatened with disqualification during her candidacy for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national women leader position.
No political appointee at any level may vote or serve as a voting delegate at a political party’s convention or congress to nominate candidates for any election, according to Section 84(12).
Dr. Edu stated that she had resigned from her position as the Cross River State of Nigeria’s Commissioner for Health at the time she was running for office.
Dr. Betta Edu, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, was charged for uploading phony pictures of ventilators during COVID in 2020.
As a result of Dr. Betta Edu, the state commissioner for health, allegedly handling the COVID-19 situation unethically, the Cross River state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association withdrew its services from hospitals around the state and cast a vote of no confidence in her.
The vote of no confidence, according to Dr. Edu, was political.
NAVIAL WORTH
As at the time of this post, Dr. Betta Edu’s net worth was not known, but it will be updated.