Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the urgent end to abject poverty across Africa. He recently revealed that if China could lift 700 million people out of poverty, Nigeria should have nothing to do with poverty.
Speaking during Dele Momodu’s leadership lecture, “How to end hunger and poverty in Africa,” Chief Obasanjo insisted that security should be the priority for Nigeria before we even talk about food.
He said that education is one of the tools that can be used to tackle poverty, because where there is a lack of education, there will definitely be poverty.
According to him, leadership is also the main ingredient for ending poverty across the continent because good governance and quality leaders are the recipe needed to ensure poverty becomes a thing of the past.
“In all works of life, we must have leaders whose characters display ‘communality’.
Leadership is the greatest ingredient for ending poverty. There’s no human endeavour that does not thrive on leadership.
To get it right, we must ensure no child is uneducated.
Nigeria can eliminate hunger and poverty with integrity, discipline and good governance,” he said.
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OBJ insisted that if African leaders can take responsibility like the Chinese government did, Nigerians should have no business with abject poverty.
He then urged those who can effect meaningful change to act quickly, else international communities will keep refusing to recognize impoverished Africa as a serious continent.
“We can do it if China can lift 700 million people out of poverty.
Nigeria should have no business with abject poverty. If we don’t take responsibility, we all sit on a gunpowder keg.
Until we banish poverty in Africa, international communities will not recognize us as a serious continent,” he added.
