ActionAid Nigeria, MOTION, Lament Poverty Crisis In Nigeria, Demand Solution.

By Ferdinand Olise

The Action Aid Nigeria has joined the world to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with the theme: ending social institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families.

Speaking in Abuja on Saturday, at the occasion of the international Day for the Eradication of Poverty, and Official Launch of the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTION), the Country Director, Action Aid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, urged that, as the world commemorates the international day for the eradication of poverty, everyone must reflect on the strategies, and suggest innovative ways towards addressing the root causes of poverty which include lack of fiscal transparency, mostly at the sub-National levels, illicit financial flows that bleed an average of $18billion annually from Nigeria, making Nigeria the highest contributor to illicit financial flows in Africa.

“Eradicating poverty is dear to our hear in ActionAid Nigeria, one of the reasons our 10-year strategy is heavy on lifting 5m people out of poverty by 2035. However, for we to actualize this tall dream, the environment must be provided through well thought out programmes and policies by the Government of Nigeria, most importantly the sub-National governments.

“We would not dis-countenance the efforts that the Federal Government has said it made in reaching 8.1million households with N330billion, we are however concerned that citizens appear to be excluded from the process of disbursement of funds to beneficiaries in terms of monitoring the budgeting process, released of funds and disbursement.

“In 2018, ActionAid Nigeria and other Civil Society Organisations were deeply involved and could report appropriately how funds were disbursed to beneficiaries. The government should also give opportunity to civil society organisations and media to carry out social audits on the people and household reached.

“The World Bank recently warned that, despite efforts to stabilise the economy, about 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. This means that even when food is available, millions cannot afford it. The situation is even more alarming in rural communities, where three out of every four people are now estimated to live below the poverty line, which reflects deepening inequality and worsening deprivation across the country.

“Against all these realities, ActionAid Nigeria is supporting the launch of a movement of movements today called Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOT!ON). The movement is formed to ask deeper questions that would help shaping our governance system in Nigeria especially at the sub-National, improve democracy that delivers through strong electoral reforms, effective leadership accountability, and combating poverty and injustice.

“Today is the the day that the world has set aside towards the eradication of poverty, so the world recognizes that poverty is a menace in the sustainable
development goal. Globally we’ve agreed that we have some goals set aside targeting issues of poverty globally and Nigeria is not left out

“So MOTION movement for the transformation of Nigeria has come today to create that awareness, raise that consciousness, get citizens to come up and hold our government accountable. so motion is being launched here today MOTION is made up of over 70 organizations with with about membership strength of 30 million, and we are saying across the country what is happening here is happening in several States, at least six States across the country matching and saying government “Our Pots Are Empty”, Empty Pots Empty Promises Empty Empty Empty campaigns.

“The campaigns that we have seen they are not being fulfilled, and we have six demand; the demands are very clear, if they deal with them then we will be in the forefront. Today the federal budget has increased from 299 to 54 trillion Naira, that is over a 150 times, but the number of Nigerians that are living in poverty has increased.
We used to have 52.5 million Nigerians living in poverty as at 1999, but today it has increased from that number to now 139, more than two times close to three times the population that were living in
poverty as of 1999.
Why is our budget increasing and the level of poverty is increasing?

“For us as citizens we have a responsibility to hold government accountable, I’m wearing this necklace, it symbolizes every tribe, every man, every woman, every boy, every person with disability, every tribe in Nigeria that is living in poverty, and they are calling on Nigerians, we are calling on Nigerians to hold the government accountable to make sure that we fight poverty, we have no business in poverty, and if we
do the right thing our resources will work more for us”, he said.

The organization therefore urged the country to remember that hunger, poverty, and injustices are not just statistics, but they are lived realities for millions of Nigerians.

On his part, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and Human Rights Activist, Mr Femi Falana, who spoke virtually, cautioned against abuse of rights, noting that the liberal and legal rights of the youth, children and adults, that are part of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life, to liberty, to dignity, fairer learning, freedom of expression, freedom from discrimination, and so on and so forth,
are mere decorations.

“The culture where suffering is expected and injustice is tolerated”, he said.
He further stated that ending ill treatment, therefore, begins with knowing that Nigerians are not to be pitied, but to be respected.
“The demand of public institutions exists not as instruments of oppression but as guarantors of dignity”, he added.

The Convener of the MOTION, Hauwa Mustapha, lamented the rate of thousands of children on the streets of Nigeria not having food to eat and living with severe hunger amidst the sufficient natural resources GOD blessed Nigeria with.

“Nigeria is a country that is endowed with agricultural production, this is a country that is endowed with sufficient natural resources, and human resources.
We have no real reason to have barely five percent of the population cutting away more than 85 percent of our natural resources, and leaving more than 85 percent of the population wallowing in poverty.

” We have no reason for that, and the idea of MOTION is to say that no Nigerian is more Nigerian more than the other, we all have collective stake in this country called Nigeria.
Our demand is primarily, we want an end to hunger in Nigeria, we also demand that as poverty of hunger is partly as a result of unemployment, we demand that government puts in place strategic and concrete policies that will engage and create at least three million jobs”, she said.

The occasion featured the official unveiling of the MOT!ON logo to signify the official birth of the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria.