The Africa Refugees Foundation (AREF) recently marked its founder’s day with a roundtable discussion on poverty to draw attention to the plight of the poor.

The discussion themed ‘The Challenges of Poverty’ had participants highlighting issues that promote poverty and the way forward to reducing poverty in the society.

Projects Executive, AREF, Arole Wole Adediran, said that the lecture was designed to provoke productive and engaging thoughts, encouraging solutions to halt the scourge of poverty, ravaging the society.

During the discussion, participants mentioned what were responsible for the increasing poverty in the society.

In his introductory remarks, the moderator, Mr. Olaniyi Ayeni stated that the country is grappling with multidimensional poverty and those within the bracket are easy pun in the hands of politicians.

He noted that the government cannot be exonerated from the problem, stating that government has been paying lip service to tackling the crisis.

Ayeni, nonetheless, said that the responsibility cannot be left to government alone to tackle.

In their resolutions, participants underscored the need to engage moral and advocacy strategies that can change the endemic culture and shift away from moral misfit.

They said there is also need to focus on accurate data collection for planning to solve problems for progress and development and the need to embrace agricultural practices in all its ramifications for durable solutions for improved living conditions.

“To identify serious and active policy-makers with the right connection for them to formulate impactful policies that can uplift the vulnerable persons.

“To approach skills acquisition centres for partnership, such as mechanic, barber, hairdresser, cobbler, etc.

“To partner with purposeful individuals, organisations like TY Danjuma Foundation, Ford Foundation, MTN Foundation, UBA Foundation, etc for financial support to sustain the empowerment project

“That the Food Outreach Initiative be encouraged as regular activity due to its immediate relevance to the vulnerable persons.”