What a remarkable moment it has been for Nigerians in the last few weeks. What used to be a social media uproar against the highhandedness of ‘Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force coupled with the pain of far too many cases of police brutality has spilled over to the streets of cities across Nigeria; a situation that hitherto seemed impossible.  Like author and social activist, Bura-Bari Nwilo, puts it, ‘The generation that’s known for pressing phone also knows how to register its displeasure.’ This is what demonstrators, mostly youths, have attested to as they demand an end to the infamous SARS and also for the total reform of the police.

Citizens Center for Integrated Development and Social Right (CCIDESOR)  has insisted that poverty must end now if the country is to connect to the comity of developed countries.

CCIDESOR noted that the only way to address poverty is by ensuring that good governance tripoded on accountability, transparency and citizens engagement are seriously addressed, adding that any government that does not revolve around these governance issues may be running the leitmotif without having to address the plights, aspiration and expectation of the citizens.

‘In a world characterized by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means and financial resources, that millions of persons are living in extreme poverty is a moral outrage. Poverty is not solely an economic issue, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses a lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity’.

Persons living in poverty experience many interrelated and mutually reinforcing deprivations that prevent them from realizing their rights and perpetuate their poverty, including, dangerous work conditions, unsafe housing, lack of nutritious food, unequal access to justice, lack of political power and limited access to health care.

The federal and state governments should deploy their governance pattern towards the realization of these, in so doing, the spate of poverty would have been addressed which is in line with SDG 2020.

According to Mahatma Gandhi, poverty is a form of violence. In the light of the above, Citizens Center for Integrated Development and Social Right (CCIDESOR) has called on the governments at all levels to address the spate of poverty in the land by improving the economy.

Speaking to newsmen, the Executive Director of CCIDESOR, Ogechi Ikeh noted that as the world celebrates International Non-Violence Day, the federal and state governments should begin to look at those sectors that enhance the economy, like the educational sector, health, roads, market system to check the high cost of food items, hospitals by making sure that citizens can access avoidable health services among other indices that grow the economy.

The Executive Director used the day to call on state and non-actors to reaffirm “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence”.

It would be recalled that  “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man”.