By Emeka Mamah

ENUGU—THE Bank of  Agriculture, BOA, has tasked governors of the south east states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo over their inability to key into agriculture to reduce unemployment and poverty in the region, saying that the bank had funding opportunities which the people of the area could access to reduce their hardship.

BOA representative in the zone, Mr. Aaron Obigbo lamented the seeming lacklustre attitude of most of the governors towards taking advantage of the various programmes of the bank,   to better the lives of their people.

Obigbo spoke at a conference on “Pro-Poor Growth, Unemployment and Poverty in Nigeria: A South East Agenda,” organised by the Development Strategy Centre, DSC, Enugu, Thursday, in partnership with the Kenyan based- African Economic Research Consortium, AERC.  Those who attended the workshop included   representatives of the UK Department for International Development, DFID,   representatives of the BOA, coalition of  the organized private sector including the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, MAN, and various states’ Chambers’ of Commerce; the academia, as well as Civil Society Organizations, CSOs and the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn- PERL-ARC & PERL-ECP, among others.

•From left: Former Minister for Power,Prof. Chinedu Nebo (r) and the Managing Director of Anambra Small Business Agency -Chief Clem Chukwuka among other participants

Equally in attendance were top government officials from South East region including Secretaries to the State Governments, SSGs as well as Permanent Secretaries and Commissioners of relevant ministries and departments.

The Managing Partner of DSC, Dr. Cosmas C. Ohaka who made the lead presentation, x-rayed the drivers of regional unemployment and poverty in the midst of economic growth with special reference on the South East region.

Ohaka said that going by economic theories, gains from economic growth should naturally and automatically trickle down to the poor, thus reducing poverty and leading to income re-distribution, pointing out that the situation did not apply in Nigeria as “available data shows that every region witnessed rises in poverty incidence between 2000 and 2015,”   implying “that as long as economic policies are focused on improving and sustaining economic growth, income redistribution policies may no longer matter.”

According to him, “the increase in economic growth does not automatically translate to decline in poverty incidence in any of the regions as the indices seemed to indicate,” between 2000 and 2015. This, Ohaka said, pointed to the fact that “even if growth continues for the next couple of decades, some people will still not benefit from it due to their level of education that makes them unemployable.”