Extreme poverty puts Nigerians under intense pressure, says Prof. Arulogun

Prof. Oyedunni Sola Arulogun of the Department of Health Promotion and Education, University of Ibadan (UI), weekend, declared that Nigeria was boiling as virtually all citizens live in extreme poverty.

Arulogun made the declaration at the 4th matriculation ceremony of 156 students of Admiralty University of Nigeria (ADUN), Ibusa, near Asaba, Delta State.

The don, in her paper titled: “The invading force of science and technology and the complementary role of entrepreneurial education in the new world”, said: “As of April 19, 2022, at 1:00 pm, the poverty index of Nigeria shows that 83,005,582 Nigerians (representing 39 per cent of the world) are currently living in extreme poverty with 53 per cent in rural areas of equal proportion of males and females.

She described the trend as a bad omen for a country like Nigeria and stressed that “by our economic planning, the target escape rate is 0.3 per minute but the reality is -3, hence the poverty rate is increasing in Nigeria on daily basis”.

“The scenario is such that virtually all income is spent on food, limited access to school, lack of money, inadequate shelter, hunger, not knowing how to read, unclean water, fear for tomorrow and living one day at a time and being sick and having no access to doctor.

“And what this portends is that in Nigeria we are experiencing the Boiling Frog Water Syndrome, irrespective of various interventions by governmental agencies, and our attitude within the boiling water syndrome is not encouraging,” she said.

The don, who expressed empathy on the plights of the poor, called on all governments and other relevant bodies “to take a drastic and rationale decision to jump out of the boiling water now that the strength and means are available on our finger tips to avoid hunger war”.

Arulogun said entrepreneurial education was “conceived as an educational system that seeks to foster self esteem and confidence by drawing on individual’s talents and creativity while building relevant skills and values that will assist students on expanding their perspective on schooling and opportunities beyond”. She advised matriculating students to face fears, set goals and seek for mentors, who would help them excel as students.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Paul Omojo Omaji, asked the students to meet standards expected of them.

“Fix your eyes on the purpose of being in school, sacrifices for your future, humble yourself to be luminary leaders that will dine and wine with kings and queens. As aspiring leaders, you can never be stopped unless you stop yourself,” he told them.