From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS and SAMUEL BELLO, Abuja
Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Director General of the Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, yesterday outlined how the Buhari administration is taking the nation out of poverty.
They spoke in Abuja during a symposium on, “The New Economy and Its Impact on the Less privileged citizens”, organised by The Osasu Show (TOS), a television programme, anchored by Miss Osasu Igbinedion.
Speaking during a panel discussion on ending poverty and bridging the inequality gap through infrastructure development and social protection mechanisms, Ikpeazu said the greatest problem in Nigeria was social mobilisation and social engineering.
Ikpeazu lamented the current situation of pervasive lack of belief and faith in government enterprise, saying that the populace was no longer on the same page with the government both at the state and the national level.
On his part, Amaechi said until the current dispensation, Nigeria was not producing anything other than corruption.
The former Rivers governor said before the advent of the Buhari-led administration, Nigeria was importing chicken.
The minister added that before the commencement of the current administration, Nigeria was importing tomatoes, with over $3 billion spent on the importation of chicken and $2 billion for fish.
Amaechi, however, said in order to alleviate poverty in the country, the Federal Government had to diversify the economy and also came up with the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP).
Also speaking, Dakuku identified infrastructure as one of the critical ways of ending poverty, saying that infrastructure served as a stimulus to addressing poverty.
Dakuku said: “If you want to address poverty, one critical element is infrastructure. It stands as a stimulus to addressing poverty. When we talk of infrastructure, we need to look at transportation. The poorest of the poor will never earn their livelihood if they are not able to involve in some forms of economic activity.”