By Emmanuella Oghenetega
In commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with the theme: ending social institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families,” ActionAid Nigeria and other Civil Society Organisations have taken to the streets of Abuja, a protest on eradicating poverty.
The event which took off at the Labour Conference Centre Abuja, was also to unveil officially the MOT!ON logo, which signifies the official birth of the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria.
Speaking to News men, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu stated that eradicating poverty is a movement that is dear to the Organization.
He said, “this is one of the reasons our 10-year strategy is heavy on lifting 5m people out of poverty by 2035. However, for we to actualize this tall dream, the environment must be provided through well thought out programmes and policies by the Government of Nigeria, most importantly the sub-National governments.
The Country Director went on to say that in in 2022, the National Bureau of statistics revealed that 133million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty and 72% of this people lives in the rural area.
He stated that while AAN applauds the efforts of the supreme court’s judgement in 2023 on Local Government Autonomy, “we believe poverty alleviation efforts by the Federal Government would not translate to reality with the people in the rural areas in Nigeria without the deliberate and collective efforts of the sub-National Government.”
He said, “the Nigeria national budget has progressively increased since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy from N299billion to over 54trillion in 2025.
“Unfortunately, poverty rates have also increased from 42.7% in 1999 to 61% in 2025. It then appears that as the population grows with increased revenue and national budget, poverty proportionately grows.
The ActionAid Nigeria’s CD, stated that, according to the FIRs Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu increased federal allocation to states by 70%. “This again calls for deep concerns as this increase still has not translated to improved lives of people in the rural areas.”
“Today as we commemorate the international day for the eradication of poverty we must reflect on our strategies, and suggest innovative ways to address the deep rooted causes of poverty which include lack of fiscal transparency mostly at the sub-National levels, illicit financial flows that bleed an average of $18billion annually from Nigeria making Nigeria the highest contributor to illicit financial flows in Africa.
“Against all these realities, ActionAid Nigeria is supporting the launch of a movement of movements today called Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOT!ON). The movement is formed to ask deeper questions that would help shaping our governance system in Nigeria especially at the sub-National, improve democracy that delivers through strong electoral reforms, effective leadership accountability, and combating poverty and injustice.”
He therefore called on the Government to link all electoral guidelines to the sections of the electoral Act 2022, voters card to other government approved identification card, an independent appointment of the INEC Chairman, an adequate funding of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Nigeria, a more credible 2027 election, make available open tendering or open bidding.
