By Emmanuel Aziken & Austin Ogwuda

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, yesterday, identified poverty as a major cause of violence in some parts of the country and pledged his administration’s commitment not to give the malaise a foothold in the state.

Speaking at the launch of an insurance scheme for beneficiaries of the state’s micro-credit scheme, the governor enjoined the country’s elite to consider the poor, saying that the N20,000 some spend on beer monthly could lead some poor persons out of poverty.

The insurance scheme was conceived to be a bulwark for beneficiaries of the state’s micro-credit programme, the state Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Anthonia Ashiedu, said. She said the need for the scheme arose from the setbacks suffered by some beneficiaries of the scheme, following the flood that ravaged the country two years ago.

The insurance scheme was flagged off with a N6.5 million premium paid by the state government and underwritten by Mutual Benefit Assurance. The company promised that proven claims would be paid within three days.

On the nexus between violence and poverty, Governor Uduaghan,  said: “One of the things that people seem to stress is that over the years, we have ignored poverty, we have not paid attention to people at that lower end and what has happened, is that today, a lot of those youths, because they are not doing anything, have become a pool of people who are easily recruited to carry arms and ammunition either as criminals, armed robbers or terrorists.”