Nigeria has the capacity and resources to end the scourge of poverty and unemployment if the right things are done by its leadership, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) new country director, Mr Andrew Mamedu, has said.
Mamedu told journalists in Abuja where he unveiled his vision that if the ruling class showed the same commitment in winning elections against poverty, most poor Nigerians would be out of the poverty cage.
The ActionAid boss said if the politicians demonstrate enough political will by investing massively in infrastructure, small and medium scale enterprises (SMES) and education, the 133 million citizens described as multidimensionally poor by the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report would be relieved of the pangs of poverty.
He said if the national and sub-national governments adopted the India and Chinese strategies of tackling poverty where over 300 million of their nationals were bailed out of poverty in a short-term through deliberate investment in SMES, infrastructure and education, most Nigerians would no longer be classified as poor.
Mamedu described another report which asserted that unemployment had significantly dropped in the country because any Nigerian who works an hour a week is no longer jobless as falling below any global benchmark for gauging the menace.
At N30,000 minimum wage, Mamedu said four hours per month engagement is a mere N170 weekly and N680 per month, which can only buy a litre of petrol.
He advised the leaders to cut the cost of governance and use the resources to fight poverty.
According to him, “The biggest cause of poverty is misappropriation of public resources. Fiscal responsibility is a major problem in Nigeria. Political leaders know what to do but are not doing them. If they can strategise and win elections, why can’t they do the same against poverty? But they are not interested.”
On AuctionAid vision for Nigeria under his leadership, Mamedu said the organisation would work with government at all levels to bring out five million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
He said the pro-poor group would continue to take side with the under-privileged citizens, work with the government and not antagonise them to ensure judicious use of public resources for the benefit of the people.
He said, “We take side with the poor and the excluded, the constitution and the people. We don’t antagonise the government but engage them, we hold the government accountable in the distribution of public wealth in the interest of the people.
“All leaders are public servants and not lords over the people. We make them understand that they are there to serve and not to amass wealth for themselves,” Mamedu said.
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