… says Nigeria needs wealth redistribution

By Chris Ochayi & Emmanuel Elebeke & Gabriel Ewepu & Ezra Ukanwa & Mayowa Baiyegunhi

  The Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs. Ene Obi said yesterday that Nigeria needs a concerted effort to tackle the menace of corruption.

Obi, who stated this on Tuesday when she led a delegation of ActionAid officials on a Thank You visit to Vanguard Abuja Bureau, said the action became necessary because the scourge now kills more Nigerians than HIV/Aids and malaria.

She explained that the visit was to show appreciation to Vanguard family for the good work it has been doing in champing social justice and to seek more partnership in order to forge a common front in the fight against corruption.

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As an anti-poverty agency focused on eradicating corruption, she said ActionAid believes that corruption can be eradicated in Nigeria if our resources can be redistributed, the way it should, remove the looting and the misappropriation that is happening now because no Nigerian needs to go to bed hungry.

‘‘It is normal for ActionAid after getting a new country director to pay visits to media houses that are our partners, that we have worked with but I assumed officer last year on the 1^st of February, 2018, and it was like so much was on ground to be cover and so I just hit the ground moving and that did not happen.

‘‘It is a big thank you visit for the job Vanguard is doing. I am also seeking for more partnership and it is also a thank you visit for doing a great job that Vanguard has been doing to ensure social justice.’’

Obi, who bemoaned the level of poverty in the country said corruption is the major obstacle to eradicating poverty and that patriotic Nigerians have said no to the ugly trend and vowed to reclaim the country so that the youth will no longer eat from dustbin.

According to her, it is corruption that put our common wealth in the hands of few privileged citizens at the detriment of majority.

‘‘ActionAid is an anti-poverty agency to eradicate corruption. We believe that corruption can be eradicated and we believe that if our resources can be distributed, the way it should, remove the looting and the misappropriation that is happening, no Nigerian needs to go to bed hungry.

‘‘There were days that no Nigeria would go to the dustbin. We witnessed that as young people but today, our children are eating from the dust bin. Now, the few are getting rich and the widening gap between the poor and the rich. When we are growing up, in school, we were with children of governors in a public university but today that is not happening.

‘‘Corruption is the major obstacle to eradicating poverty and we are looking at it as Nigerians who have said no. As Nigerians, if we do not reclaim our country, it will not even be the dust bin they will eat from, we don’t even know where they would eat.

‘‘If we have a million now below the poverty line and so in the corruption fight, we seek your partnership. We have a project in anti-corruption. We have different projects but on anti-corruption, except we have a mass mobilization of both media and patriotic Nigerians and I know we could find that here to join us in the fight against corruption, this country would be lost. We do not want to lose it.’’

‘‘One good thing with the current administration that we know is that President Mohammedu Buhari is willing to fight corruption. If we do not fight corruption now for this session, the person that is coming after President Mohammedu Buhari, would it be willing to fight corruption?

‘‘I think it is time to reclaim our land from the looters. Orientation is something that we seek. I think people have lost it. There are a lot of insanity in the atmosphere and that is the sanity that we need to bring back to people. People who have gone astray, we can also bring them back to the fold. And so, ActionAid is calling for collaboration in the fight against corruption,’’ she added.

Obi further decried what she called gender imbalance in the system and called for proper women inclusion in the scheme of things.

She insisted that women deserve 35% affirmation because the constitute 50% of the population  and need full representation.

‘‘Gender equality as well is another major one. We are talking about representation of women that women need to represent themselves not other people representing them. The Nigerian government needs to correct the imbalance of decision makers in their positions.

‘‘We are asking because women account for 50percent of the population and they need to be represented. We have one of the worst indices on maternal mortality and infant mortality more than many countries around the world. Corruption is killing more than HIV and Malaria because when you take from people, hospitals will not be built. We need to look at what the government is doing to meet the need of the population.

‘‘We were not this populated and the population is going to explode according to projections. So, we call for partnership, for who you know and more ideas in fighting corruption. How we want to go on this journey, is a journey on social justice. The current strategy is about social justice to end poverty and we go all the way in saying that eradication of poverty is possible and it is something that we have to do and we can do it,’’ she stated.

Obi further informed their hosts about the school sponsorship programme for the less privileged in the society and encouraged Nigerians to contribute towards the gesture.

‘‘One of the things we do is we do go out of the country to look for money to sponsor children in schools. We work with women, children and with people with disabilities. We work with the most vulnerable group; we go to where many people will not go and not outside where you can see everybody in trying to get the voices of the poor and the most vulnerable count.

‘‘And so, we are now encouraging Nigerians to contribute to putting children in school. If we have to go outside to put your children in school, we believe that Nigerians have generous heart and they can give. So, you pay at least two thousand a month which can keep a child in school and would be 24,000 in a year. Some people pay at once but we are not so much concerned in the contribution but joining the fan from your heart that you are fighting for social justice. We want to network with you to see that if anything hurts you, it hurts us. We need to fight this fight like a broom not like one but like a bunch itself. If we do not fight together.’’

The ActionAid boss also used the occasion to announce the 20^th anniversary of the organization which is billed to take place in October and appealed for Vangurad’s collaboration.

In his response, the Vanguard Bureau Chief, Mr. Emma Ujah assured the visitors that Vanguard would collaborate with ActionAid to fight social injustice in the country.

He told the visitors that Vanguard as a citizen conscious newspaper share some similarities with ActionAid in what its aims and objectives.

‘‘We can assure you of one thing, that Vanguard has an ideology. Vanguard was established on social justice. It is a newspaper that was established to provide a platform where we can see that Nigerians are catered for, the very lowest of the masses.

‘‘The interest of Vanguard is the masses and from what the leader of the delegation had said, you can see the similarities in what is driving you and what is driving us. In fact, in Vanguard, on a daily basis, there is a potion in Vanguard in which we give voices to the people that ordinarily, nobody wants to be interviewed. These are the people on the street who share their opinions when there’s an issue.

‘‘We interview the ordinary people, ask them how they feel and what they feel should be done about such issues and this is just to say that you can’t take it for granted that we have been working with you and ever ready to work with you.’’

‘‘Every organization that is out to fight social justice, we would partner with such organization, any organization that is out to stand up against injustice, we will work with.

‘‘Our country is receding and it’s clear to all of us. If there is anything we must do to take back our country, this newspaper is out to do it. The founder of this newspaper use to have a column in daily times of those days called sad times, he was writing the column because he was very sad the way the nation was governed. In fact, it wasn’t as bad as this then. So, you can see what is driving us, that why when we see people, see young men go to dustbins turn waste bins upside down, taking things inspite of the sting it’s pains us.

‘‘And we know we have so much, just because a few have aggregated our commonwealth to themselves. So, it’s a thing that is driving us, and we can assure you that Vanguard will work with ActionAid, we’ve been working with you and we have always been seeking this partnership. We can assure you that we will always be ready to give voice to whatever you are doing not just in Abuja and Lagos alone.’’