The Vice-Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has decried the rate of poverty in Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Monday, Obi “warned that no nation can develop and prosper with a rising large poor population as in Nigeria.”

For Obi, the “poverty rate in Nigeria should worry every concerned leader because there couldn’t be national growth under this situation,” adding that “no country can develop and prosper with a rising large poor population as in Nigeria.”

He explained that “Poverty is dehumanizing, it is therefore left for humanity to create a better world by putting measures in place to eradicate poverty and give everyone the chance to live a meaningful life.”

He asked government agencies, organizations and wealthy people around the country to join hands to combat poverty and reduce it to the barest minimum so as to have a safe environment.

The former governor of Anambra State lamented that the country “has become the poverty capital of the world, with over 90 million people living in poverty and more than 15 million out-of-school children roaming the streets, Obi said that the government could not continue to turn a blind eye to such depressing situation.”

Obi advised the Federal and state governments to invest in economic growth, explaining that doing so would “lift people out of poverty in no distant time noting that investment in education and health, and support for small businesses, remain the pivotal ways of eradicating poverty in any nation.

“To combat poverty in Nigeria, organizations and wealthy individuals must deploy their resources to support government investments in these critical areas.”