Former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has bemoaned recent poverty index which ranked Nigeria as “world capital of poverty”, saying the country doesn’t deserve it.
Obasanjo wondered why Nigeria with about 180 million population would be ranked above India which has 1.3billion population.
A statement signed by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, and made available to journalists in Abeokuta, on Wednesday quoted the former President to have spoken when Lagos State executive members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) paid him a visit.
The Ota-based farmer attributed the poverty index to what he called poor handling of the economy by the current leadership of Nigeria.
“As you rightly said, this is the hard time economically for all. It is for all of us, except the very few. Is this what you (Nigerians) want to have for another four years?
“PDP cannot do it alone, ADC cannot do it alone. It must be collective efforts to get the right leadership for the country. Recently, the country was ranked as the poorest country in the world.
“India is with population of 1.3 billiom and Nigeria is about 180 million. Yet, we still have the poorest citizens in the world. Nigeria doesn’t deserve this and this is the honest truth,” Obasanjo said.
Speaking on women participation in politics, Obasanjo reiterated the need to give more space to women in both elective and appointed seats.
“Even in schools, our girls are performing better than the boys. So, if you have more women in the exco, it is not strange, because they can get us going,” he said.
In his remark, Lagos State chairman of ADC, Chief Tunde Daramola, had earlier intimated the former President on the purpose of the visit, hinting that the party was to have a rally and open the state Secretariat of the ADC in Lagos.
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