Wealthy Northerners Responsible For Poverty In The North- Sen. Shehu Sani

By Ogbolu George

Shehu Sani (Kaduna/Kaduna-south) said wealthy northerners are the ones responsible for the high rate of poverty in the region.

Sani made this known on Wednesday, when he hosted leaders of the physically-challenged in his office in Kaduna State.

The senator, who said the visit by the group was in fulfilment of his campaign promise to bring them for the first time to see the office of the person they elected, also said it was unfortunate that the poor were the ones who toiled and worked for politicians to get elected into public office.

”It has always been the same pattern; each time we are aspiring for political offices, we search for them in the nook and crannies but at the very time we have won the election, the best thing is how to clear them from our cities.

”You cannot end (street) begging in any part of Nigeria without making provisions for uplifting their socio-economic and living standards. It has always been the case. Public begging and loitering is an economic problem. You cannot legislate people out of poverty; you cannot decree people out of poverty; you have to lay an economic road-map for which these people can stand and fend for themselves,” he said.

The senator said the North possesses wealthy individuals that could end the problem, but giving to the poor alone would not address the problem of socio-economic inequality.

He said it was very unfortunate that the government would budget trillion of naira with considering the physically-challenged.

Senator Sani accused successive governments in Nigeria of being unfair to the physically-challenged people.