Nigeria can lift 100 million citizens out of poverty-Prof. Vambe

Bishop [Professor] Joseph Vambe is the President of the International Christian Organisation for Sustainable Development [ICOSD], a faith-based non-governmental group pursuing the Herculean goal of eradicating poverty across Nigeria along the lines prescribed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals One [SDG-1].

In this interview with Cyril Mbah in Abuja, Professor Vambe explained that it is possible for the nation to lift 100 million citizens out of poverty at the shortest time possible, with proper planning, good projects, determination and the right political will. Excerpts.

How do you assess the success of your programme launch in Abuja bearing in mind that many important dignitaries like presidential candidates failed to attend?

We thank God. It was an awesome day and we are happy with the fact that the goal and mission of ICOSD has been registered on the minds of many people with the launch of the project.

So, now that ICOSD has been launched, what specific message do you want Nigerians to take home? What do you expect people to do about the mission of eradicating poverty from the country? Since you think that this is a task that must be done, how do you hope to achieve the mission?

Our message is clear. We have been saying that there is need for the collective participation of Nigerians in the project of eradicating poverty. We told Nigerians to understand that we need to come together because even though poverty is a common thing, it is a monster which cuts across all tribes and religions. Whatever educational level that people may attain, it does not matter. There are poor doctors and there are poor professors just as some market women and some professionals are also poor. So, poverty cuts across every segment of the society and for this reason, I am asking people to realise that it is time for us to come together to fight poverty for our common good.

Some government officials who attended the launch stated that poverty alleviation programmes of present and previous governments failed in the past due to improper coordination. How do you think that this problem can be solved?

I recall that Professor Bernard Babatunde, who represented Senator George Akume, the Minister for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, stated that many projects that the government introduced in the past and some ongoing ones were affected one way or the other. I believe that there are rooms for improvement and we are actually hoping to improve upon them because the poverty index in the country is very alarming. We are not saying that the government is not working or trying its best to resolve the issues. Rather, we are saying that there are rooms for improvement.

Let us look closely at the present administration’s proposal to lift 100 million Nigerians from poverty. Can this target ever be achieved in our life time?

Yes, it is possible. It is workable because from our modus operandi and what we have on ground, especially the model we have in fighting poverty, if the proposal is adopted and properly implemented, it is possible to achieve the target. The government may also have a template that is more sophisticated but the problem has always been whether the administration will allow it to be rolled out in a manner that will impact on Nigerians.

Since this is your field of expertise, can you then advise the government on how to make its poverty eradication programmes workable to help reduce poverty in the land?

I would like to tell the government that poverty is not about lack of money. It is also not about scarce resources. It is about lack of proper financial and wealth building intelligence. There should be a programme to inculcate and capture financial and wealth building intelligence even among youths. Some of the entrepreneurship training programmes offered by government agencies like the National Directorate of Employment [NDE] among others are too shallow and cannot properly equip beneficiaries with the requisite tools demanded by modern economic trends.

The matter of financial and wealth building intelligence is deep and will be more beneficial to people who desire to create wealth. There should be a syllabus or a type of curriculum on the subject that cuts across all the tiers of education from the primary schools to the university levels. It should also be made very practical whereby students should be encouraged to start running their own businesses from school to enable them gain practical experience through proper exposure to the risks of doing business. This way, when students are coming out of either the secondary schools or the universities, they would already have become the chief executive officers of their own companies, instead of coming out of schools to look for non-existent white-collar jobs. This type of engagement will automatically reduce unemployment in the country.

Are you planning to launch ICOSD in the 36 states of the federation to spread the gospel of poverty eradication?

Yes. With the success of the Abuja outing, we would soon move round the states, although we have done some programmes in about ten states already. It is a national programme and we believe God that with time, we would cover the entire nation.

For a better society

—————————————————————–

Kindly follow us across all our Social Media platforms to stay up-to-date with the latest news and happenings in Nigeria and Across the Globe.

Facebook – https://facebook.com/championnewsonline
Instagram – https://instagram.com/championnewsonline