The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has stated that many elites in the country do not have an understanding of what poverty is, urging economic managers to inculcate the virtues of empathy with those they have been given a responsibility to lead.
He said he got to know what poverty truly is when he ascended the throne.
Sanusi said this in a goodwill message at a public lecture with the theme: “Weaponisation of poverty as a means of underdevelopment: A case study of Nigeria,” commemorating the 60th birthday of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, in Abuja, on Saturday.
The former CBN Governor said, “Many of the elite in Nigeria do not know what poverty is. As an economist, former CBN Governor, I see the numbers. I did not know poverty until I became Emir.
And you go to the village and see the water they drink, the houses they live in, the two-block classrooms without roofs.
“Do we love the people, or do we just love ruling over them? What are our priorities? We make overheads and underpasses for ourselves in the cities, while in the rural areas cannot reach hospitals. We are in crisis; how do we get out should be our focus.”
Also speaking at the event, former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, expressed concern that Nigerians kept repeating the same mistake of electing the worst in the society into leadership positions.
He said, “We keep electing people who only know how to grab power but don’t know what to do with it.”
A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, in his intervention, explained that most of the cases being handled in hospitals were not medical.
Yusuf blamed corruption and bad governance for the multidimensional poverty in Nigeria.
He said that unless citizens live up to their responsibilities and vote for what is right.
