Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility & Africapitalism: The Role of the Private Sector in Fighting Poverty in Nigeria , A Rejoinder
Bro Tony Elumelu, Kudos for the powerful and thought provoking presentation.
While diligently reading through your lecture, a part of it jumped at me and I quote "So the sad fact is that despite valiant efforts by the government over the last 30 years ‘Austerity’ to the ‘Structural Adjustment Programme’ to ‘MAMSER’ to ‘SURE-P,’ poverty is on the rise in Nigeria".
I beg to disagree with your assertion that govt have been ‘’vigilant’’ in their efforts at eradicating poverty over the last 30yrs. As a matter of fact, government has been the problem rather than solution. You cannot continue to give a sick man the same dose of medicine that has not cured him after 30yrs. The various attempts by govt to stamp out poverty have been political, hurriedly thought-out, reactionary and unsustainable hence they yielded no positive results.
The question govt and citizens must begin to ask is what has the western world done differently that Nigeria isn't doing? Over the years Nigerians have been sold to the notion that the government is ‘Father Christmas’ that must give out all the candies in the world to citizens. It doesn't work anywhere. In developed economies of the world, govt is an enabler that provides the regulatory framework and environment for private sector investments & entrepreneurship to thrive thus create wealth and prosperity.
I am not in any way completely opposed to social welfare & intervention by govt because even in developed countries, govt from time to time intervene to cushion the hardship her citizens face. It is however done through systematic and sustainable programs; not by ‘handouts’.
There is now more than ever an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the way we do things. The culture of handouts in the name of poverty eradication has resulted into more poverty instead of prosperity. As population grows exponentially and resources dwindle, govt and citizens must begin to think outside the box. It cannot continue to be business as usual because the emerging threats are real and huge.
In our very before, kidnapping, armed robbery, thuggery, militancy, religious extremism and other social vices have become the order of the day. Many argue that there a direct correlation between poverty/unemployment and these social vices that pervade the land. If we don’t change our attitude and the way we do things very quickly, Nigeria may be headed for the worst.
https://ng.linkedin.com/in/tonyelumelu
While diligently reading through your lecture, a part of it jumped at me and I quote "So the sad fact is that despite valiant efforts by the government over the last 30 years ‘Austerity’ to the ‘Structural Adjustment Programme’ to ‘MAMSER’ to ‘SURE-P,’ poverty is on the rise in Nigeria".
I beg to disagree with your assertion that govt have been ‘’vigilant’’ in their efforts at eradicating poverty over the last 30yrs. As a matter of fact, government has been the problem rather than solution. You cannot continue to give a sick man the same dose of medicine that has not cured him after 30yrs. The various attempts by govt to stamp out poverty have been political, hurriedly thought-out, reactionary and unsustainable hence they yielded no positive results.
The question govt and citizens must begin to ask is what has the western world done differently that Nigeria isn't doing? Over the years Nigerians have been sold to the notion that the government is ‘Father Christmas’ that must give out all the candies in the world to citizens. It doesn't work anywhere. In developed economies of the world, govt is an enabler that provides the regulatory framework and environment for private sector investments & entrepreneurship to thrive thus create wealth and prosperity.
I am not in any way completely opposed to social welfare & intervention by govt because even in developed countries, govt from time to time intervene to cushion the hardship her citizens face. It is however done through systematic and sustainable programs; not by ‘handouts’.
There is now more than ever an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the way we do things. The culture of handouts in the name of poverty eradication has resulted into more poverty instead of prosperity. As population grows exponentially and resources dwindle, govt and citizens must begin to think outside the box. It cannot continue to be business as usual because the emerging threats are real and huge.
In our very before, kidnapping, armed robbery, thuggery, militancy, religious extremism and other social vices have become the order of the day. Many argue that there a direct correlation between poverty/unemployment and these social vices that pervade the land. If we don’t change our attitude and the way we do things very quickly, Nigeria may be headed for the worst.
https://ng.linkedin.com/in/tonyelumelu
Comments
Post a Comment