Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor, River State has faulted the failure of citizens and voters to hold politicians and leaders accountable for their actions and policies as one of the reasons for extreme poverty in the country.
Ameachi made this assertion during a panel session at the fifth edition of The Nigeria Symposium For Young and Emerging Leaders held in Lagos on Friday.
Speaking on ineffective policies and extreme poverty, Amaechi explained that the country’s wealth has been in the pocket of an influential few and called for politicians to invest in infrastructure in order to create jobs and reduce crime.
Minister of Transportation disclosed that he knows politicians who have suddenly turned billionaires few months after taking up political positions.
“I know politicians who have suddenly become billionaires, and this is the money that should have been used to build roads and provide amenities that could have been used to improve the lives of citizens. Our politicians have to be clear on how they intend to lift people out of poverty,” he said.
Also commenting on citizen participation, a former presidential candidate, KOWA, Professor Remi Shonaiya, added,“We have to educate ourselves in order to become more active, and we have to begin to consider the greater good in our decisions.
“Most of us don’t care about what is happening in the House of Assembly, we are much more concerned about ourselves. The focus has to be on the people, not the government. But we as the people also have to make sure that we hold our leaders accountable to us. There’s too much personal style in the way we practice politics in the country.”
