Mohammed Shosanya
The Ibadan Discourse Group (IDG) has implored government at all levels to do more to lift a greater number of people out of poverty in Nigeria.
The Think-Tank group made the call in a statement on Friday, to sympathise with the parents of the victims of the Ibadan stampede, which claimed the lives of 35 children and six others injured.
In a statement issued by its Chairman, Chief Adebisi Adesola,the group stated that the tragedy could have been averted if there were better coordination and security arrangements ahead the ill-fated event.
The group urged the Federal Government to quickly fix the economy in such a way that it will reflect in the lives of the majority of the people.
It advised government at all levels to do more in concrete terms to lift a much greater number of people out of the multidimensional poverty ravaging the land.
The group drew attention to the fact that the pervading poverty and ravaging hunger in the land caused parents to leave their houses before 5:30am to receive handouts!
“It is saddening that the lives of 35 innocent young children, leaders of tomorrow, were lost to poverty and hunger, while several others were injured.
“The ravaging poverty and hunger in the land are serious factors that could cause many parents to leave their houses before 5.30am to receive handouts from a children funfair.
“The lesson to learn from this sad incident is that government at all levels have to do more to lift a much greater number of persons from the multidimensional poverty that is ravaging the land.
“The Federal Government in particular must take a serious and deeper look at its social investment programme so that the majority of Nigerians can, at least, feed themselves,” the group stated in the statement.
The Ibadan Discourse Group also faulted the organisers of the ill-fated children funfair for not making adequate preparation for the event, especially in the area of coordination and security.
“Beyond the organisers, state security apparatus ought to have been deployed to an event of such big magnitude to ensure the security of lives of the innocent children and others that attended the event.
“The Ibadan Discourse Group is therefore drawing the attention of governments at all levels and other stakeholders to the need for better coordination and security to avoid the re-occurence of such a sad incident.
“We hereby expressed our heartfelt sympathy with and condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate incident. We pray that God console them and grant the dead children a peaceful rest,” the group added.
