OGHARA – The President, African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (LSP), Dr. Otive Igbuzor has lamented that despite enormous resources, Nigeria is yet to attain the kind of development that the people deserve.
Speaking on the theme “Family governance as a tool for National Development” during the birthday anniversary of the Madam Agnes Akora-Ugolor, mother of the Executive Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor who turned 80 years at the weekend, he noted that in all conceptions, development must mean progress of some kind.
“We know that today, Nigeria is underdeveloped, despite the huge human and material resources in the country. We have not had the type of development that we deserve
“All over the world, it has been recognised that if a country wants to develop, they must tap on the potential of women.
“When we say that a society is developing, we mean that that society is making progress, whether in the social arena, political arena or in the economic arena,” he stated.
Dr. Igbuzor pointed out that a society is developing when people have increase in their quality of life, when the standard of living is improving, with access to health care, security, distributive equity among others, adding that development is about people.
He regretted that Nigeria is going backward instead of moving forward, recalling that in the 1970s, Nigeria was among the greatest 25 countries in the world but that at the threshold of the 21st century, Nigeria has become one of the worst 20 countries in the world.
In the 1980’s he said the rate of poverty in Nigeria was low but that today, the poverty rate had increased to about 70 percent. While there is enormous amount of prosperity in the world, in the last 50 years, the number of poor he further noted had also more than doubled.
“We are living in a world, where there is high enormous amount of wealth but the problem is that this wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people”, he contended saying that the 1998 UNDP report indicated that the few richest people had more than half the resources of the world.
While commending the Ugolor families for organising the event for their octogenarian mother, he chided family whose parents live in filth and squalor, only to organise glamorous burial ceremonies for them when they pass away.
In his address at the occasion, Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor announced the establishment of a community – based micro-finance empowerment support scheme for widows of Oghara land.
He said that the idea behind the scheme is his mother’s expression of gratitude to God who has seen her through many vicissitudes “from the harrowing past to her hallowed present”.
Rev. Ugolor said that on annual basis and in its first few years the scheme known as ‘AGNES UGOLOR MICRO CREDIT ENTERPRISE CENTRE (AUMEC) will identify three widows in critical needs in Oghara kingdom, irrespective of religion, tribe or political background and endow them with the sum of N30,000 to support their occupation or trade.
However at the occasion six beneficiaries received N30,000 each while the Chief Press Secretary to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Peter Okhiria in support of the scheme announced an additional cash award of N30,000 for a seventh recipient. At the occasion were Labour and Civil Society representatives, political moguls and journalists as well as well wishers from within and outside Nigeria and local residents who attended the occasion.
