US Calls for Peaceful Conclusion of Osun Election

•  World Bank funds survey on standard of living of Nigerians

Chinedu Eze  with agency report

The United States Government has called for a peaceful conclusion of the Osun State governorship election.

This is coming as the World Bank has committed $3.5 million for the conduct of standard of living survey across the states in Nigeria.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy, David Young, who made the appeal, called on candidates of political parties and their supporters to be peaceful and respect the results of the Osun State governorship elections that would be announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“We request and urge all supporters to be peaceful as this process moves forward. This is part of democracy. We at the United States have had very close elections too. I urge people to be peaceful and respect the result that comes out in the time ahead,” he said.

The US envoy also commended the electoral body for the smooth process that started on Saturday.

Young wants all political parties and agents to allow INEC to do its job.

“The most important thing is that we let INEC do its work. They are moving forward and in a positive way. I think this is going to be a very close election. It is going to come down to a very small margin.

“I think one of the things we need to do is let the process go forward. Let the democratic process go forward with parties and their candidates raising any concerns they have through the legal process and for the results to be peaceful,” he added.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has committed $3.5 million for the conduct of standard of living survey across the states in Nigeria.

The nation’s population is expected to rise to about 429 million in 2050.

The world body said it decided to intervene when the concerned government agency, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said it lacked the resources to conduct the research.

The bank added that measuring the standard of living of Nigerians is important to guide developmental policies of government.

The United Nations had earlier disclosed that Nigerian was recording exponential population growth and said the survey on the standard of living is important because by 2050 Nigeria would have risen to 429 million.

UN observing that Nigeria would be contributing significantly in the increase of world population and therefore needed to know the economic status of

However, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation regretted that by the same 2050, Nigeria would have about 152 million poor people who would be living on less than one dollar a day.

The Statistician General of Nigeria, Dr. Yemi Kale said that knowing the standard of living of Nigerians would be very important for human development and in policy making by government.

Kale said that NBS regularly carries survey on the standard of living of Nigeria but noted that due to paucity of funds, the Bureau would not have been able to do it this year and thanked World Bank for its intervention.

He said officers would be deployed to states to meet families in different communities in the country to check their living standard, adding that this programme would continue till next year.