The Federal's Government delegation to China has said good and focused leadership are very crucial to the reduction of poverty in Nigeria.
The delegation noted that if China with its vast population could feed its citizens, Nigeria could achieve the same feat.
Leader of the delegation, Mr. James Aroh-Nweke, said this on Tuesday, on his arrival at the Enugu International Airport from China.
Aroh-Nweke, who is also the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Poverty Reduction, said delegates from 19 states were in the People's Republic of China to attend an international seminar on 'Rural Development Strategies and Poverty Reduction'.
He explained that other delegates selected him as leader, saying that as a cabinet member in Ebonyi State Government, proceedings from the seminar were like an eye-opener on what government could do to banish rural and urban poverty.
He said, "What we learnt from the seminar is all encompassing. In China what they do is that all the departments operating in each city are engaged in poverty reduction in the sense that if they see people engaged in any form of production or are under-privileged, they evacuate them, build houses and open up a cooperative society for them. These people would be working there till year end."
Aroh-Nweke noted that he had submitted the report of the tour to the Minister of National Planning.
He noted that the seminar, which lasted for 15 days, showed clearly that Nigeria had all it takes to clothe, feed and provide shelter for its citizens if the country's leaders were focused and stick to the rule of law.
He said, "It is possible for Nigeria to feed its indigenous population if we have the correct leadership because China has a purposeful leadership that abides by the rule of law. With good leadership we will be able to achieve that, but if we don't have good leadership that is able to do those things that China is currently doing, we deprive ourselves of so many things.
"They got independence in 1949 but today seeing how far they have gone is impressive. For instance, Nighy, where we held the seminar, is administered by a governor and the hotel there is better than NICON with so many high rise buildings than what you see in Abuja. That is basically because of planning, seriousness of the government and good leadership."
Meanwhile, leaders of Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, said they had finalised arrangements to replicate what their son had learnt from the China trip, especially in the area of formation of cooperative societies.
One of them, Ekene Obodo, stated that as the Commissioner for Economic Empowerment, Nweke had been empowered by Governor Martin Elechi to empower youths and reduce poverty through the granting of micro-credits in the state.
The Punch
We have both rural and urban poverty so poverty should be eradicated generally and not partially. That's my opinion!