Former Communication Minister, Adebayo Shittu, has decried the high rate of poverty in the country, saying many Nigerians have become beggars.
Shittu who served under the Buhari administration, appeared on AIT program, Focus Nigeria, and cited examples of how Nigeria’s economic condition has turned citizens into beggars.
He said: “Yesterday before I left Ibadan, somebody phoned me from Bauchi and begged me for N1,000.00 that he had not eaten for two days.
“Again, about a week ago, somebody also called me, a woman who wanted N3,000.00 At the time she wanted that money, unbelievably, I didn’t have that money, and the woman called me 30 times in one day.”
He averred that poverty had been weaponized in the country to the extent that when politicians go to the people for votes, they tend to be more interested in what the politicians can give them rather than what they are capable of doing.
‘’It’s not my business to douse the poverty of such people calling. So when you go to such people to ask for their votes or support, they don’t care what you’re capable of doing.
“What they are interested in is what they can get out of you today,” he said
According to him, the post-political appointment life of many government officials can be challenging for those who didn’t steal in office.
(Vanguard)
