Former candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election Mr Peter Obi, said the N3 billion approved by President Bola Tinubu just for the verification of the national register of the poor could have been directed towards actual poverty alleviation.
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Obi on his X-handle platform on Wednesday added that the amount is three times more than the paltry N908 million budgeted for the National Library in the 2024 budget.
He noted that at a time when more than half of Nigeria’s population is “battling with absolute and multi-dimensional poverty, one wonders why such a huge sum was approved for just verification of the national register of the poor when the same amount could have been directed towards actual poverty alleviation.
“This is happening at a time in our nation when we need all the manpower training to keep our workforce productive.
“Our national library, a very critical infrastructure in our nation, seemingly abandoned, lacks books and educational materials.”
Obi maintained his call for a cut in the cost of governance, stating that the approved amount would have made a significant impact if prudently and transparently managed.
According to him, the approval raises a fundamental question of why the data for poverty alleviation has not been verified on a regular basis.
He stated that the inability of the nation’s leaders to prioritise her expenditure and focus on the critical areas of national development, and national security, are the challenges weighing the country down.
Obi said unless the leaders begin to sacrifice their “personal comfort for the good of society, and begin to care more for the people, especially the less privileged ones, our nation will continue to grapple with all forms of societal ills caused by a high level of poverty.”
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