The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, said Sunday it has carefully reviewed the marking scheme used by the African Development Bank, AfDB, in denouncing Nigeria’s effort against poverty, and it was clear the Goodluck Jonathan administration was unwilling to face the “bitter truth”. The group said the government should accept the verdict of the bank as a response to the president’s call for those evaluating his government to develop a marking scheme, instead of dismissing its details. The development bank had said in its latest report on Nigeria that the prospect of halving poverty by 2015 seems weak, drawing a comparison that since the advent of democracy. The report showed that the proportion of people living below the national poverty line worsened from 65.5% in 1996 to 69.0% in 2010. It also showed that poverty is higher in rural area at 73.2% than in urban area at 61.8%’. “Malnutrition is widespread. Rural areas and disadvantaged groups are particularly vulnerable to chronic food shortage and unbalanced nutrition. Forty percent of Nigerian children are stunted, nine percent wasted or thin and 23% underweight,” the report stated. But the Nigerian presidency dismissed the report as political and not based on facts. Spokespersons for the president said the figures used in computing the indicators had been overtaken by events by the various intervention of the Jonathan administration, and insisted that Nigeria was doing better than any other country of its size in the continent. In its statement on Sunday, signed by spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP wondered the political card an international development bank would be playing with Nigeria, one of its major shareholders. “Or are we no more interested in graduating into the ranks of the first 20 developed economies in 2020?” it asked. The group warned against what it called “inchoate economic policy of food is ready and share the money” which the group said has lasted since 1999, by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led Federal Government as only capable of leading to mass poverty, gross unemployment and grave inequality. “The Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping, increased rate in armed robbery and other vices more than anything is located at the monumental corruption, and anti-people policy of the PDP 14 years federal government; which have alienated a large segment of our dear countrymen. “In sum, this is the poor and ugly mark of the AfDB, which the Jonathan regime instead of seeing the rating as a wakeup call, is condemning without facts,” it said. Face
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 20:59:54 +0000
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