A member of the Global Citizen to End Extreme Poverty, Victor Asije, has reminded federal, states and local governments in Nigeria of the urgent need to evolve workable measures to end extreme poverty in Nigeria.
Global Citizen is a platform dedicated to achieving the end of extreme poverty powered by a community of millions of global citizens, who strongly believe in one world, one people-where everyone has an equal chance to thrive.
In a statement obtained yesterday, Asije also called on more Nigerian philanthropists, well-meaning individuals, the private sector and civil society organisations to urgently begin to rededicate themselves to ending extreme poverty in Nigeria.
Asije, who said he was not unaware of governments past and current efforts at reducing poverty, added that millions of Nigerians were increasingly grappling with extreme poverty.
“Because we at the Global Citizen strongly believes in one world, one people-where everyone has an equal chance to thrive, I am drawing our governments’ attention to the current menace of extreme poverty in and around Nigerians.
“I do know that extreme poverty, like every other human challenges is global, but I am humbly appealing to our governments’ to be selfless in ending extreme poverty in this country, up just as governments in other countries of the world are also currently being called to do.
“As governments, some of us know and should know the dehumanising effects of extreme poverty. Extreme poverty slows down personal and national development, retards, stunts, blinds, disappoints, deforms, provokes anger, crime, rudeness, disobedience, misdirection, cluelessness, misunderstanding and other emotional and psychosocial problems,” he said.
According to Asije, extreme poverty was the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations as, “a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.”.
The International Society of Diplomats (ISD) Special Emissary on Media to Nigeria said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBA) in its November 2022 report had revealed that 133 million Nigerians were “multi-dimensionally poor”.
“In that report, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said that 63 percent of Nigerians were poor due to a lack of access to health, education, living standards, employment and security.
“A UN State of Food Security and Nutrition in World (SOFI) report in the same year, found out that the prevalence of hunger is highest in Africa. And when you talk of Africa, you are technically referring to Nigeria,” he added.
