Poverty, major cause of Boko Haram – Clinton

A former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, has identified poverty as one of the major causes of insurgency in Nigeria.
Clinton, who spoke on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the 18th Annual ThisDay Awards, said it has become a must therefore the Nigerian Government to tackle the issue of poverty for it to resolve the Boko Haram uprising.
He said Nigeria has the capacity of becoming a great nation but needed to work hard at it.
He accused Nigerian leaders of failing to properly manage the country’s oil wealth and natural resources, which has resulted in the wide poverty gap among its citizens.
He said the failure of Nigerian leaders to address economic inequalities and check the brain drain syndrome had drastically stifled the nation’s development.
He advocated the urgent redistribution of wealth between the rich and the poor in the country, adding that government should endeavour to empower people through education.
Clinton said: “Nigeria is a country of potential. I would say you (Nigeria) have about three big challenges.
“First of all, like 90 per cent of the countries who have one big resource, you haven’t done well with your oil money. You should have reinvested it in different ways.
“You don’t do a better job of managing natural resources.
“Secondly, you have to somehow bring economic opportunity to the people who don’t have.
“This is not a problem specific for Nigeria.
“Almost every place in the world, prosperity is heavily concentrated in and around urban areas.
“You have all these political problems, violence, religious differences, and all the rhetoric of Boko Haram, but the truth is the poverty rate in the North (Northern Nigeria) is three times greater than what it is in the Lagos area and to deal with that, you have to have both powerful stake in the local governments and a national policy that work together.
“You have to figure out a way to have a strategy that will help in sharing prosperity.
“The third thing is there has to be a way to take the staggering intellectual and organizational ability that Nigerians exhibit in every country in the world in which they are immigrant and bring it to bear here so that the country as a whole can rise.
“So, I think solving the economic divide that is in your country will help the political divide; making better use of your resources.
“Nigeria is trying to set up an investment fund where the Federal Government will set it up and the governors are being consulted so that they can concentrate the capital.”
The event featured the presentation of awards to 15 teachers drawn from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The beneficiaries, who received N2 million each, included Victoria Jolayemi, Dorothy Ugwu, Christie Ade-Ajayi, Rev. Father Angus Fraser, Chief D.B.E. Ossai, Yakubu S. Dimka, Chief Reuben Majekodunmi and Chief Dotun Oyewole.
Others were John O.B. Adeaga, Bawa Mohammed Faskari, Hadiza Thani Mohammed, Professor Iya Abubakar, Professor Frank Ugiomoh, Prof. Michael Obadan and Prof. Eunice Nkiruka Uzodike.
While giving insight into this year’s annual award, the Publisher of Thisday Newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena, said it was organized to celebrate distinguished Nigerian teachers.
Obaigbena said over 750 nominees were considered.