Obasanjo in Italy, blames world crises on poverty
(Thursday, February 21, 2002)
From Madu Onuorah, Abuja
Guardian Newspapers, Lagos. Nigeria.
| TRUE peace may continue to elude the world as long as extreme affluence continues to exist side by side with extreme poverty. And one way of solving the problem of poverty is to give the current wave of globalisation "a human face" to bail developing nations out of penury. President Olusegun Obasanjo made these observations while speaking as a special guest of the 25th session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). According to him, the pervasive extreme poverty among a large percentage of the world's population with "the bewildering affluence of a small minority is ethically unacceptable, socially unjust, economically inefficient and politically dangerous." Consequently, Obasanjo proposed that developed countries should set aside 0.5 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries. Drawing on United Nations statistics, he said that there are 1.2 billion people surviving on less than $1 per day in the world. Of this figure, he said, Africa accounts for 300 million and Asia having 500 million. The President said that the rhetorics of the international community about devoting more resources to agriculture and rural development have not been matched by appropriate action. Obasanjo reminded the IFAD that the eradication of poverty is paramount if the world is to enjoy durable peace. The empowerment of the rural dwellers into the mainstream of national development goals and strategies is needed, he said, to stop the scourge of rural-urban drift, which creates a fertile environment for social and political instability. He lamented that developed economies are using subsidies, tariffs and quotas to frustrate the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements, which are intended to raise agricultural production in the Third World. To help solve the problems of the developing countries, Obasanjo canvassed "a human face for globalisation in order to protect the poor." Developing nations according to him, must evolve intervention measures to check poverty, pointing to the New Parternship for African Development NEPAD as a unique platform for the developed nations to enter into genuine partnership with Africa. In a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, Obasanjo asked the developed nations to devote atleast 0.5 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as Official Development Assistance (ODA) for developing countries. If the target of 0.5 per cent is maintained, he said, "it will amount to a significant achievement." The UN target for ODA for developing countries has for years been 0.7 per cent of developed countries' GDP. Also speaking on debt relief, Obasanjo described it as a political issue "though it (debt relief) has economic consequences," the President said, "it is a political, not economic issue." Obasanjo, who called for increased Italian investment in Nigeria, described debt relief and ODA as two sides of the same coin, which will result in the provision of resources for development. Berlusconi agreed on the need for increase in the ODA, but said that the developed countries are concerned, though that past ODA had ended up being used for purchase of weapons and diversion into individual bank accounts. Both Obasanjo and Berlusconi then agreed to collaborate in the setting up of a "computerised, digitalised system" which will promote transparency in the utilisation of ODA funds. The President who left Abuja for Italy early on Tuesday returned to Abuja later Tuesday night.
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