Lifting over 80m Nigerians Out of Poverty Our Priority, Says Ezekwesili

• Meets Babangida in Minna

The Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili 2019 Presidential Campaign Organisation has stated that it was planning to lift majority of Nigerians out of extreme poverty.

Ezekwesili has also met with former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), in Minna, Niger Delta.

Ezekwesili’s position on poverty is coming on the heels of recent declaration by Bill Gates, Founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that the world can

overcome extreme poverty as demonstrated by countries such as China, India, Mexico, South Africa, among others.

The second richest man in the world insisted that if nothing drastic was done, a high percentage of the world’s poor would come out of sub-Saharan Africa – a region, which has seen its population rise uncontrollably in recent years.

The former Minister of Education who is the presidential candidate of Action Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), has therefore, challenged her rivals to bring up their programmes to better the lots of citizens.

She said, “Beyond the rhetorics that is currently being engaged in during this election season, it is clear to us that getting people out of debilitating poverty is the single most crucial assignment that we have. That is why we adopt this as the cornerstone of the #Oby4President campaign.”

While lamenting that most aspirants to public office in the country were seeking political power for its sake, the ACPN presidential hopeful in a statement from Ezekwesili campaign organisation added,

“This position is informed by Oby Ezekwesili’s informed belief that only a prosperous people can take the nation into the future we all dream of.”

She contended that since research indicates that over 40 per cent of cases of extreme poverty could be found in sub-Saharan Africa by year 2050, “to turn around these tragic projections, we need to drastically change how we do things as a country. We cannot continue to vote in the incompetent leaders who put us into this poverty while expecting change to happen.

In another development, Ezekwesili has said the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, does not have control of Alimosho, the largest Local Government Area in Lagos State.

The former education minister said Tinubu was only able to deliver 86,897 votes out of the 650,000 registered voters in Alimosho in the last presidential election .