ActionAid Urges FG to Invest in Infrastructure, SMES to Tackle Unemployment

Raheem Akingbolu

With a clear demonstration of political will and deliberate investment in infrastructure, small and medium scale enterprises (SMES) and education, the 133 million citizens described as multidimensionally poor by the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report would be relieved of the pangs of poverty, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) new Country Director, Mr Andrew Mamedu, has said.

According to him, ActionAid Nigeria, a social justice non-governmental organisation working to eradicate poverty and all forms of injustice in Nigeria, determines under the new leadership to work around the key thematic areas of governance, education, health, women’s right, agriculture and human security in emergency, to take at least five million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years

While taking Journalists through his plans in office in Abuja, Mamedu said Nigeria has the capacity and resources to end the scourge of poverty and unemployment if the right things are done by its leadership.

He said if the ruling class showed the same commitment in winning elections against poverty, most poor Nigerians would be out of the poverty cage

He pointed out that his era would align strongly with the rural communities to tackle critical challenges that beset the Nigerian people in a more penetrating manner, and he said: “In the next 10 years, hold us to account for the 5 million.”

Lamenting on the worrisome global climatic condition, the he said Africa contributes less than 4 percent of global emission but bears 60 percent of the burdens.

He blamed poverty in Nigeria on politicians who manipulate and mismanage the huge resources in the country to their own advantage, calling on the media to do all it could to hold people in government to account.