Aliko Dangote
Felu Akinpelu Dada
The President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that
more than 100 million out of the country’s estimated population of 187
million are wallowing in poverty.
He told participants at the Executive Course No. 38, 2016 of
the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near
Jos, Plateau State, that the situation was unacceptable to him given
Nigeria’s abundant resources, according to a statement made available on
Sunday.
Delivering a paper entitled: ‘Promotion of local
manufacturing and poverty reduction in Nigeria: The private sector
experience and policy options’, he said, “It is a curious paradox that
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, and the largest economy on the
continent, also has one of the highest levels of poverty.
“It is estimated that more than 100 million out of a population of 187 million Nigerians live below the poverty line.”
Quoting a United Nations report, Dangote said youth
unemployment had risen to 42 per cent this year, with many graduates
roaming the streets of major cities such as Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port
Harcourt in search of elusive white-collar jobs, while for some who were
employed, their situation could best be described as under-employment,
as they were being underutilised and poorly paid.
This development, according to him, has serious security
implications, as evidenced by the high rate of social ills plaguing the
nation.
“The spate of kidnappings, intermittent vandalism of
petroleum pipelines in the Niger Delta, and the protracted insurgency in
the North-East are all fuelled, to a large extent, by the high level of
endemic poverty in the country,” he stated.
Dangote pointed out that the current economic recession had
further worsened the situation, as the government continued to record
dwindling revenues, thus making it increasingly difficult for it to
fulfil some of its obligations to the people.
He said, “Coupled with this, the activities of insurgents in
the North-East have also affected the level of poverty in that part of
the country. It is estimated that there are over 2.4 million Internally
Displaced Persons in the region. It will take billions of naira to
rebuild the North-East and fully re-settle the victims of the
insurgency.”
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