Elumelu Calls for Multi-Sector Collaboration to Eradicate Poverty in Nigeria

Bukola Olanrewaju August 22, 2022 BUSINESS, Banking and Finance Leave a comment

The Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu has called for a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote financial inclusion and social welfare to eradicate poverty in Nigeria.

Elumelu who was ably by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Heirs Life Assurance, Niyi Onifade, a digital life insurance company said poverty remain the greatest enemy of humanity, apart from breeding hunger, poverty also opens up a flood of crime and conflicts.

He said this while delivering the keynote address at the 9th Lagos Public Relations Stakeholders’ conference.

Onifade, who represented Elumelu, at the event joined Council Member, NIPR, Mr Sina Thorpe; Chairman, NIPR Lagos, Mrs Comfort Nwankwo, and other dignitaries to discuss the conference theme tagged, ‘Leadership and poverty eradication’.

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He called for the adoption of Africapitalism, an economic philosophy propounded by Elumelu advocating for the private and public sectors to collaborate to achieve the unified goal of alleviating poverty and facilitating shared prosperity.

“African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth,” he said.

Elumelu also identified tackling unemployment, promoting financial literacy and inclusion, leadership, governance, structure, and positioning of SMEs to thrive as critical areas that would significantly impact the push towards poverty alleviation in Nigeria.

According to him, the government alone cannot provide all the economic and social needs of a country.”

He highlighted four critical areas that will significantly impact our push towards poverty alleviation in Nigeria; these include positioning smes to thrive, leadership, governance and structure, promoting financial literacy and inclusion and tackling unemployment.

Speaking further he said, the success of any country is a testament to its leadership and its governance structure. “To drive financial inclusion, regulators and our leaders have a key role to play. Restrictive policies should be relaxed to encourage more people, especially rural dwellers, access financial services.

Regulatory requirements should be flexible and favourable to financial providers, which would then allow them create more value-adding products and services for people.

“More importantly, our leadership must create rules and regulations that encourage growth and not stifle creativity. Poverty alleviation must consist of deliberate programmes that reach the grassroots, and dogged commitment to implementing and tracking the plans, must not be the same as usual.”

He emphasised the importance of life insurance in tackling poverty and improving social welfare.

He also added, “Access to financial services should not be a privilege. A typical example is life insurance. Contrary to popular opinion, low-income households need life insurance products more.

“Life insurance can help to cushion the financial impact associated with the loss of a breadwinner.”