The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Nentawe Yilwatda, says the federal government is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to identify poor Nigerians living in urban slums.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Friday, Yilwatda explained that AI technology has helped expand the national social register from 13 million to 19.7 million people. While the register previously focused on rural communities, it now includes the urban poor. “To assist people, you need to identify them first. That’s why we began by validating and expanding the social register,” he said.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu directed that the register be made more inclusive by adding the urban poor. The government used satellite imagery to map urban slums, then relied on telecom base station data to identify phone numbers in those areas. AI was then used to verify individuals based on factors like financial access and other social indicators.
Yilwatda noted that the federal government aims to reach 15 million households — approximately 75 million people — through its poverty reduction programmes. “Nigeria has about 43 million households. By targeting 15 million, and using an average household size of five, we estimate reaching around 75 million individuals,” he said.
