Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, and the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, have called for the urgent end to abject poverty across Africa.
Obasanjo insisted that if China could lift 700 million people out of poverty, Nigeria ought to have something to do with abject poverty.
Speaking during Dele Momodu’s leadership lecture, ‘How to end hunger and poverty in Africa,’ Chief Obasanjo, in his keynote address, posited that “before we talk about food, security is key.”
While proffering a lasting solution to hunger across Africa, Obasanjo insisted that “education is one of the tools we can use to banish poverty. Where there’s no education, invariably, there will be poverty.
He posited that leadership is removed from banishing abject poverty: “In all works of life, we must have leaders whose characters display ‘communality’.
“Leadership is the greatest ingredient for ending poverty. There’s no human endeavour that does not thrive on leadership.
“To get it right, we must ensure no child is uneducated.
“Nigeria can eliminate hunger and poverty with integrity, discipline and good governance. We can do it if China can lift 700 million people out of poverty.
“Nigeria should have no business with abject poverty. If we don’t take responsibility, we all sit on a gunpowder keg.
Until we banish poverty in Africa, international communities will not recognise us as a serious continent.” He said
