Invest in education, food, others to address poverty, Chinese envoy urges FG

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Invest in education, food, others to address poverty, Chinese envoy urges FG

The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, has advised the Federal Government to invest in education, food, housing and security if it wants to end poverty.

Jianchun gave the advice at the launch of the Hausa edition of Up and Out of Poverty (a book) and the China-Nigeria seminar on governance on Monday in Abuja.

According to the envoy, the book was written in 1988 by the current Chinese President Xi Jinping reflecting his thoughts on how to eradicate poverty which he was able to do under 10 years of his reign (2012-2022).

Jianchun said the President has now “eliminated extreme poverty which at that time, 99.8 million people were below the poverty line.”

The envoy said with the launch of the book, developing countries such as Nigeria will need to re-strategise and do the needful to remove its citizens below the poverty line.

He noted “The Chinese definition of extreme poverty eradication revolves around two basic needs and three guarantees. For the basic needs, we have first, food and secondly, clothing.

“For the three guarantees, we have compulsory education, basic medical care, and safe housing.

“Nigeria needs to fix the educational sector. The country has a lot of dropouts and we all know that without education, a country cannot move forward.

“Nigeria needs to fix the medical challenges it is facing to eradicate poverty.”

The envoy added “The measure that China took was to boost the economy. The economy is a decisive factor to eliminate poverty. Nigeria needs to rely on its strength, natural resources and create more jobs for its citizens.”

Speaking at the event, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume said the book launch was timely, adding that out of 200 million Nigerians, 80 million live below the poverty line, especially in the Northern part of the country.

Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office, SGF, Aliyu Shinkafi, noted that the Hausa version of the book will help Nigerians benefits from the growth and development of China.

He said “This launch is timely and shows what both countries share in common.

“The book is translated into one of the three major languages so that our population can benefit from China.

“It is not by chance that the book was put together in Hausa because Nigeria has a population of 200 million about 80 million live below the poverty line, especially the North West and North East.”

Also, the Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism, Hu Helping noted that “The world is encountering a lot of challenges, especially food insecurity and poverty.

“Today, the launch of this book will help Nigerians learn and understand how China went up and out of poverty.

“It will also provide a stronger bilateral cooperation between both countries.”