Speakers at the sixth public lecture of The Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria have bemoaned the poverty level in the country and called on stakeholders, especially government, to tackle the menace headlong to avoid imminent catastrophe.
The lecture titled: “Eradicating poverty in Nigeria: The role of the church, entrepreneur and government,” had in attendance notable personalities including the church’s General Overseer, Rev. Felix Meduoye; Chairman, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, Rev. Tunde Lemo; Chief Executive Officer, Coscharis Limited, Dr. Cosmos Maduka; Chief Executive Officer, Systemspecs Limited, Deacon John Obaro and Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited, Dr. Abiodun Adedipe, who was the keynote speaker.
The speakers underscored the need for government, citizens and the church to make concerted efforts at ensuring total reduction of poverty in the society. This, according to them, would ensure harmony and peaceful co-existence, which is vital for economic growth.
Meduoye said the lecture, coming few days after Nigeria marked her 59th independence anniversary, provided ample opportunity to review the country’s chequered experience as a nation over the years — both under military and democratic dispensations.
He said not a few Nigerians believe that much still needed to be done in terms of fulfilling or attaining the dreams of being a strong, viable, united and prosperous entity, where citizens will be able to explore and exploit opportunities for personal and collective growth and development.
He said the church also has a part to play in the process of nation building, as “enduring and prosperous societies are built and sustained on the enthronement of such values as patriotism, probity, integrity, accountability and transparency.
“If we are to survive as people and as a nation, we must be seen (individually and collectively) to be pursuing and promoting these ideals in every fabric of our life,” he said.He decried the fact that about 90 million Nigerians are said to live in extreme poverty.
“Around June 2018, Nigeria was said to have overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world. This is indeed worrisome and calls for great concern. The effect of this negative posture is seen in the increased spate of armed banditry, insecurity, protests, violence, ritual killings, insurgency, kidnappings and other nefarious acts pillaging our land,” he said.
Keynote speaker, Dr. Abiodun Adedipe, also described as disturbing the fact that six Nigerians become poor every minute, even as unemployment is rising significantly. He advocated sound education with bias for technical, as well as creation of jobs as effective antidote to poverty in the country.Corroborating the submissions, Maduka and Lemo called for decentralisation of power to allow each state or region develop its resources for the betterment of their people.
