Soludo Warns Nigerian Rich Will Not Sleep If The Poor Is Neglected

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has said the rich in the country will also suffer if high poverty and unemployment rates are not tackled. 

Soludo said this while speaking at ‘The Platform’ which held at the Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos. 

The Ex-CBN boss while delivering a presentation on economic restructuring at the programme lamented that the country’s economy has over the years depended solely on oil and gas which he said had led to widespread poverty in the country.

Soludo, who was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the new Economic Advisory Council, however said the next, bigger-than-oil export earner for Nigeria would potentially be its human capital as the mass of poor people would no longer allow the rich to enjoy their wealth.

“The alternative future that we see is one without oil and where exhaustible natural resources play very little role. The future will be driven by people – our youths – and technology.

“Nigeria earns almost as much from oil as it earns from remittances from the diaspora. But we cannot export illiterates in a world driven by the digital revolution. The easiest way to waste the future is to continue to churn out millions of semi-illiterates, largely unemployable citizens, most of whom see criminality as the only way to escape poverty trap or drug as the opium for solace.

“With an urbanisation rate of over five per cent, the conflagration that might ensue when hundreds of millions surge to the cities but can’t find jobs, housing, water, and food can only be imagined. Soon, I believe, the rich won’t be able to sleep because the poor, homeless and angry are awake.”

According to him, it’s high time the country utilised the potential of the youthful population  to be highly productive at home and competitive or exportable abroad.

Recall that the Chairman of First Bank Of Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika had also in the same programme urged the government to turn its population to an asset that will inject more into its forex market by exporting experts.

She said young Nigerians can be trained and equipped with the desired skills needed in the world, thereafter, the country makes income by exporting them.