A former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Lai Olurode, has warned that multidimensional poverty in the country would likely go from bad to worse if governments at all level fail to reassess their priorities and allocate resources to critical areas.
  
Olurode said this at a two-day annual Staff Improvement Workshop of the Wings Schools Iwo, Osun State, themed, ‘Reluctant Souls, Lamenting teachers; the State and Knowledge Centres’.He noted that the country was experiencing multidimensional poverty as a result of the lack of commitment of the government to spend appropriately on education and health.

According to him, “multidimensional poverty is high in Nigeria because we spend the least on education and health when compared to Ghana and South Africa, even though these countries aren’t as well-endowed as Nigeria.”
 
He pointed out that the problem stemmed from the political elite’s indifference to budgetary allocations to the sectors, lamenting that “Nigeria’s rich resources are being harvested and plundered by some politicians of different shades.”
 
He added: “Ordinary Nigerians have been turned into scavengers, which is a paradox in the context of Nigeria’s huge human and resource endowments. Without attention being paid to education, Nigeria’s poverty profile will remain daunting.”
 
Specifically, he asked the government to review the salaries of teachers for them to show commitment and demonstrate passion for the job.