The Emir of Kano, in Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has bemoaned the high levels of poverty in the country.
BestNewsGH.com can confirm Emir Sanusi as wondering why Nigeria will be the capital of poverty in the world, when the richest Man in Africa comes from there.
The former Governor of the Nigeria Central Bank who was peaking at the launch of ‘From Frying Pan to Fire’ authored by Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, Chairman of the Editorial Board of This Day, also took at dig at the Nigerian government for spending between 3 and 4 Billion Dollars on fuel subsidies.
BestNewsGH.com reports him as saying “If you come to Abuja Airport, it is filled with private jets. If you land in Abuja you will think Nigeria is a very rich country. We have beautiful roads and bridges; we have everything in Abuja. Go to the rural areas and see the large number of Nigerians there. It is a completely different world. It is a sad case and we need to deal with that. We must also remember that the discourse is not just a humanitarian discourse and it is not value-free.” he averred.
In his opinion, the monies being spent on fuel subsidies should rather be channeled into funding education, energy and industries, to create jobs for the youth.
He said what Africans need are jobs that will keep then in the continent and stop them from migrating to other countries in search of greener pastures.
“We have to grow up. We cannot blame Europe and America for our problems; we have mismanaged our economy, we have misplaced our priorities, we have not understood the importance of development. We think these roads and bridges are developments and not the human beings.’’ he further opined.
He added that “How much are we spending in an attempt to give ourselves cheap fuel? $3billion or $4billion a year? So-called petroleum subsidy? Imagine putting that money into education or into power or industry. That won’t deal with migration unless we have jobs. Why can’t we have electricity?”
Source: BestNewsGH.com
