Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, has blamed Nigeria’s worsening poverty on the wrong choice of leaders, many of whom, he said, emerge through manipulation or violence.
Speaking in Enugu at the inauguration of the newly elected executive of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu State Council, and the homecoming of former NUJ National President, Chris Isiguzo, Ortuanya stressed that the quality of leadership determines the growth, development, and stability of any nation.
Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Olaiwola Usman, Ortuanya delivered a keynote on the theme, “Leadership Recruitment Amid Challenges of Poverty: The Role of the Media.” He maintained that proper recruitment of leaders was necessary to ensure “a square peg in a square hole,” adding that most global crises stem from bad leadership.
Complementing his position, findings from a recent multidimensional poverty study across six states representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones revealed alarming trends of chronic poverty passed from parents to children, with entire communities trapped in generational cycles of deprivation.
The two-year research, tagged Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC), was conducted by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), supported by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex, and funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Dr Judith-Ann Walker, Executive Director of dRPC, explained that the study highlighted how kidnappings, terror attacks, climate shocks, and internal displacements have worsened vulnerability and entrenched poverty.
Projects Director, Dr Stanley Ukpai, and NOUN lecturer, Dr Henry Mang, further stressed that chronic poverty was now intertwined with insecurity, communal clashes, and environmental disasters.