NEED FOR POVERTY ERADICATION IN NIGERIA BY;Oyediran A Oyekola

In continuation of my last edition, I particularly focus on Nigeria for now being the largest country in West Africa, yet poverty ridden nation.
For a large majority of Nigerians of over 120 million people, a survey conducted by Nigerian Federal Office of Statistics shows that in a sixteen years period that began in 1980,the percentage of Nigerians living in poverty rose astronomically from 28% to 66%.Within the same period, the percentage of the rural poor increased from 29% to 70%,while the share of the poor in the urban areas rose from 18% to 55%.Ethnic Militia have virtually taken over every nooks and cranny of our streets. This actually culminated out of precarious economic instability. Cult groups are now ruling and taking shot in the nations Alma-Malta, while the female students are turning their campuses into prostitution – breeding centers, basically to sustain themselves.
To compound these problems, the curriculum of our educational institutions were generally geared towards producing graduate whose sole expectation was to secure a “kola” job that were becoming virtually or scantly scarce, If not entirely non- existent. Universities and Polytechnics were running Degrees, Diploma and Certificate programmes which presupposed that business already exist not only to employ their graduate but also for graduates to manage or administer.
Even with the establishment of many technical colleges, the product of these technical educational institutions still lack the necessary technical know- how to take us to the promise land.
All these factors explained at least impact the present disgraceful level of poverty in the country. Many people have a wrong notion that once you have secured an employment in any organization you have to be in that employment until you retire. And what should be done is multidimensional approach to the issue of poverty eradication in our midst. But I must state it empirically and emphatically too, without deceiving ourselves that, we just have to think of what an individual can do on their own through a capacity-building strategy in order to get ourselves out of yoke of poverty.
Lucky for us now, things are changing and the wind of change brings growing recognition by both leader and citizen across the country that, the future prosperity of our people depend largely on private enterprises. Invariably, efforts are therefore being made by the government to create an enabling economic climate where business could thrive and flourish.
Efforts are being made to include entrepreneurial training in curriculum of schools and colleges. But more need to be done in this regard.
Meet you in the highest level.