Why FG Should Address Poverty, Education, Security Challenges – Rights Activist

A human rights activist, Dr Ijeoma Nwafor, has stressed the need for government to address the challenges of poverty, education and security confronting the country.

Nwafor, who is also the Country Representative of Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), an international non-profit making organisation, stated this while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series on Monday in Abuja.

She said that addressing these challenges wholesale would make life better for the Nigerian masses.

“I have not seen a state where these three basic challenges of poverty, education and security have been addressed.

“Most of our governors are being distracted and are not tackling the problems.

“Of course, if we have a governor with such records, the public especially, the media, will know because if a tree falls in a forest and nobody knows, it means it hasn’t fallen.

“I find it too deplorable when someone is in government and he doesn’t factor in issues of orientation, media and publicity. Such a person is wasting his time because people need to know what you are doing.

“For instance, if you built a hospital, you need to let the people know because if you don’t, they will keep going to the old, bad ones they are used to and that is not governance,” she said.

Nwafor, a certified psychologist-turned activist, also advised Nigerians, especially young graduates, against what she tagged `poverty mentality anchored on getting rich quick syndrome’.

“Nigeria’s problem is largely about how we are raised; how we think, which are based on deprivation and scarcity.

“Those who are doing well here are doing so because they have been able to understand the mentality of the people,” she said.

Explaining further, Nwafor said that some young graduates, immediately after getting jobs, the next thing would be for them to be dreaming of becoming millionaires or billionaires overnight.

“This is poverty thinking, because it is illusion of grandeur, one who dreams fantastically.

“I don’t know who started this insanity that success is anchored on one being a millionaire or billionaire.

“In the West, how many millionaires and billionaires do they even have compared to their population? But why it seems that their system is working well is because of shared opportunities.

“The opportunities are so numerous and these are based on merit for the most part, and the higher you go to the pinnacle of power, the less objective and equal the opportunities are.

“But in our system here, things don’t work well because they are based on depravity, and some people would rather target knowing the boss than doing their work,” she stated.

Nwafor, who said that she had worked in poverty-ridden area in the US, added that poverty looks the same everywhere and must be tackled for the betterment of the people.

“When I ventured into politics, I didn’t know that poverty was a big challenge. It has really been in the space and affects how people think, their expectations and even how they manage themselves,” she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)