Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the urgent steps to end abject poverty across Africa.
Obasanjo said if China could lift 700 million of her citizens out of poverty, Nigeria should be able to do something about the abject poverty Nigerians grapple with daily.
The elder statesman made the call while speaking at Dele Momodu’s leadership lecture, ‘How to end hunger and poverty in Africa’ to celebrate the politician, journalist and Ovation Magazine publisher on his 65th birthday.
Obasanjo, in his keynote address, declared that “before we talk about food, security is key.”
Advancing a lasting solution to hunger across Africa, he maintained that “education is one of the tools we can use to banish poverty. Where there’s no education, invariably, there will be poverty.”
He also identified the place of leadership in ending abject poverty.
He said: “In all works of life, we must have leaders whose characters display ‘communality’.
“Leadership is the greatest ingredient for ending poverty. There’s no human endeavour that does not thrive on leadership.
“To get it right, we must ensure no child is uneducated.
“Nigeria can eliminate hunger and poverty with integrity, discipline and good governance.
“We can do it if China can lift 700 million people out of poverty.
“Nigeria should have no business with abject poverty. If we don’t take responsibility, we all sit on a gunpowder keg.
“Until we banish poverty in Africa, international communities will not recognize us as a serious continent.”
Also speaking, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, urged everyone to be patriotic by collaborating with the government.
He said, “If we want to break poverty in this country, we have to be patriotic in all ramifications. From the food we eat to the clothes we wear. We may not get it right at first, but in a short time we would be the envy of the world.”
