Experts At DICAN Conference Say Nigeria Cannot Cash-Transfer Its Way Out Of Poverty
Nigeria’s poverty crisis may not be solved by sharing money alone.
Experts say the bigger task is to build the roads, create jobs, skills and institutions that enable people to escape poverty for good.
At a DICAN workshop on Nigeria’s poverty alleviation and China’s development model in Abuja, they urged policymakers to study China’s targeted approach while adapting it to Nigeria’s realities.
Prof Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim, Provost of the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, said China lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme rural poverty through targeted interventions, infrastructure, economic reforms and strict accountability.
Director of the Centre for China Studies, Abuja, Dr Charles Onunaiju, said Nigeria must shift from welfare-driven programmes to policies that build productive capacity while media scholar Dr Austin Maho warned against copying China wholesale, citing differences in governance, administrative capacity, data systems and security.
He urged journalists to track development projects beyond official announcements, use data to measure results and hold governments accountable for whether poverty programmes actually improved lives.
The central lesson from China, the experts said, is not to copy its system, but to make poverty reduction targeted, measurable and focused on creating lasting economic opportunities.
