The poverty eradication goals have slipped in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theme of this 2020 Poverty Eradication Day is “Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all”.
Poverty has challenged humanity for so long. In Nigeria, it clings onto the never-ending discrimination and people’s refusal to come together against it. Social, economic and environmental justice is far from the reality of many in the country.
The truth for most people in Nigeria is that they are in the class of people who do not deserve a good quality of life or access to social assistance.
Poverty as a sense of helplessness is more dynamic than is acknowledged considering all elements – food insecurity, lack of shelter and good environment.
Poverty Eradication Day 2020 in Nigeria
This fight against poverty does not belong to the government in Nigeria, the United Nations or the World Bank, it is everyone’s fight.
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The National Bureau of Statistics says 83 million Nigerians are poor and its latest record excludes Borno state. The only way poverty can be dealt with is by crushing its related issues – shelter, insecurity and more.
A first look at “who is a Nigerian” reveals someone thumped with lack of basic needs – a home, food and access health care. These are people who live below N400 daily with all expenditures computed.
What is the way forward
The government has created several funding initiatives for young people. But that does not mean it has won poverty in Nigeria.
There is a need for a national consensus to find what the citizens want and how to achieve it. Rather than constraining and leaving young people behind, let them have more access to opportunities.