A former Minister of Education, Dr.
Oby Ezekwesili, has attributed the
rising poverty in Nigeria to poor
governance and the monotonous
economic structure of the country.
Ezekwesili described the country as
an African paradox with the land rich
in natural resources but a large
percentage of her citizens poor.
The former World Bank Vice President
for Africa said bad governance, which
had manifested through corruption,
was responsible for the poor
economic performance of the country.
Ezekwesili, who spoke on Tuesday at
the opening ceremony of the 2013
Port Harcourt Book Festival in the
Rivers State capital, observed that
Nigeria had been unable to translate
the huge natural resources at her
disposal to the improvement of her
citizens’ living standard.
She said that 69 percent of over 100
million Nigerians were living within
the poverty bracket
She said, “Nigeria is perhaps the best
known example of the African
paradox. It is a country which has
struggled with the development
process over the last 53 years of her
independence.
“As the 6th largest producer of oil in
the world, it has earned more than
half a trillion dollars in oil export
since the discovery of that commodity
in the South-South region of this
country where we are gathered today.
“Unfortunately, the massive revenue
from oil has been a source of
enormous sorrow to citizens due to
poor government by our political elite
over the many decades since its
discovery.”
The ex-minister added, “Nigeria has
therefore tragically failed to translate
her rich resource endowment to
improvement in the standard of living
of her citizens hence we today have
69 percent of over 100 million of our
citizens in the poverty bracket,
according to the latest data from the
National Bureau of Statistics.
“The poor governance or its more
virulent manifestation, public
corruption, is of course the
fundamental reason for Nigeria’s
poor economic performance despite
our globally acknowledged economic
potentials to have become not just
one of the largest economies of the
world, but in fact, one of the most
prosperous of those countries.
“There is no better saying of the
governance failure in our nation than
the relatively unchanged structure of
the economy of Nigeria since our
independence; and it is the rapid
change of the structure of an
economy that determines the level of
economic growth, development and
prosperity that would happen. In our
case, it has remained relatively
unchanged.”
Ezekwesili lamented that while Asian
economies had experienced
significant growth in economic
prosperity, countries in Africa had
failed to develop economically.
She expressed the need for African
countries to search for other sources
of development in order to improve
the poor.
“At 48 percent of the continent’s
population surviving on a mere $1.25
a meal, it is urgent that the
economies of Africa should find new
sources of growth to the present crop
of the poor,” Ezekwesili added.
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi
said his administration would soon
construct a N3bn administrative
village.
“We are building a Creative Village at
present and it is going to cost N3bn.
In the village, there will be a public
library, a theatre and a cafe, among
other facilities,” he said.
Amaechi said the public library was
part of the government’s effort to
promote the reading culture in Rivers
State, adding that Shell has promised
to contribute to the funding of the
project.
source http://www.punchng.com/news/bad-governance-behind-poverty-in-nigeria-ezekwesili/

Stupid woman.. She's talking as if she and OBJ made Naija paradise when they wre in control.

We all know that, Jonathan insists it is a strange imaginations.

May God deliver Nigeria.

Hahahahaha. The government which you were formally part of. Ok then, there was no corruption in the system.

We all know that! So many people have said that time and again,over and over. Hian! What we need is real actions and solutions not speech! We need solution to these maladies confronting us,not people standing behind a podium,shouting into our ears that so and so are the cause of our underdevelopment.

egift: We all know that, Jonathan insists it is a strange imaginations.

May deliver Nigeria.

Bros,na wetin you wan been type?

How I wish this woman will read this my post..


@Oby Ezekwesili. what have you done to alleviate the poverty in your country?

Since gej refuse to renominate this woman for any post in UN she has turned into the proverbial wicked stepmother.

Madam! Once upon a time, you were there. What did you do?