The vice-president of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, has expressed his concern about the living conditions of the poor in Nigeria. He made these statements during a graduation ceremony in Abuja, where he said that the poor in Nigeria are as neglected as animals.
He pointed out that the poverty level in the country has reached a point where the poor are not better than the animals they take care of.
He also mentioned that the masses have become contemptuous of the elite and that the quality of governance in the country needs to be improved.
According to him: “They (the poor) are the most neglected segment of our society. You can hardly differentiate between them and their animals. Even the animals they rear belong to those in the city. So, there have to be kinetic and non-kinetic solutions to all the problems. Be it the IPOB agitation in the South-East; be it the challenges in the South-South; be it Boko Haram or rural banditry in the North-East, North-West, and North-Central,” the VP said.
He also stated that the masses have become contemptious of the elite, saying, “All of us here belong to a tiny segment of the Nigerian population. And you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that the poor are angry with us. Go to the slums and mingle with the poor. I am a native of Maiduguri (Borno State Capital). Anytime a rich man brought a new car to his house, it (the house) used to be a place of pilgrimage.
“People (used to) go and see not out of anger, but out of admiration. But now, as we cruise around in our bulletproof cars, one will see contempt in the eyes of the poor. We have to improve the quality of governance. And what we have is a tiny window of not more than 10 to 20 years. Let’s improve the quality of governance.”
