Oxfam Nigeria has urged the federal government to increase investment in agriculture, education and health sectors.
Oxfam Country Director, Dr. Vincent Ahonsi, in a statement recently, said the government needs to bridge the inequality gap between the rich and the poor Nigerians by investing more in healthcare, agriculture and education; reviewing its tax policies in favour of the less privileged and more importantly, taking advantage of the COVID-related offers of debt relief to get its current debt service suspended, and negotiate a comprehensive cancellation of its overall debt as soon as possible.
Analysing the impact of the pandemic on the low income countries, Ahonsi said while the pandemic has been devastating for rich countries, the world’s poorest countries like Nigeria have been hardest hit with women and children bearing a disproportionate burden.
He said: “Every minute, four children around the world have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID, while women have been 1.4 times more likely to drop out of the labour force than men because of the pandemic and 99% of humanity is worse off because of COVID-19, 160 million people have been pushed into poverty, and 137 million people have lost their jobs.
“However,
not everyone has lost out due to the pandemic, with a new billionaire created every 26 hours. Of those new billionaires, 40 are COVID-19 billionaires, having made their billions profiting from vaccines, tests, treatments, and personal protective equipment (PPE). During the pandemic, the world’s 10 richest men have seen their fortunes double, rising at a rate of $1.3 billion a day, or $15,000 dollars a second.
“While there has been a very significant drop in reported cases in Nigeria in recent times, Nigerians need to remain vigilant to keep the numbers down,” he added.
