Founder of Better Nigeria for Better People, a pro-democracy group, Chief CBN Onwusoanya Ezendigbo, has decried the high poverty level in Nigeria.
He regretted that the country has the largest population living below extreme poverty line in 2023 in Africa, noting that the ugly trend is not a gold medal Nigerians should be proud about.
Ezendigbo who spoke in an interview with DAILY POST on Friday, said, “There is something fundamentally wrong with our management or rather with our mismanagement of our natural resources. It is also clear that if we continue to mismanage these natural resources we have remain stuck.
“I have urged African governments to stop securing loans backed by their natural resources. Because natural resources backed loans are not transparent. They are expensive and make that debt resolution very very difficult.
“If this trend continues, it will be a disaster for Africa. If we manage our natural resources well Africa has no reason to be poor.”
Continuing, he said, “We have $6.2 trillion dollars of natural resources. We simply need to pull our socks, stop our corruption and manage our natural resources in the interest of our country and our people.
“The resources of a country does not belong in the pockets of powerful and rich individuals, it belongs for the state to be used for the benefits of people of that country.
“There must be accountability on our natural resources.”
Onwusoanya expresses concern over high level of poverty in Nigeria