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| Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam Executive Director |
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam Executive Director, says it is shameful that Nigeria, which is the largest
economy in Africa, has made the wrong decisions as regards improving the
welfare of its citizens.
TheCable
report continues:
Byanyima
made this statement on Wednesday while speaking at the ongoing World Bank and
International Monetary Fund annual meetings holding in Washington, US.
“Compare
Vietnam to Nigeria, on our commitment to reducing inequality index, Nigeria is
at the bottom, Vietnam is fairly at the top. In Nigeria, up to 10 million
children are not going to school, In Vietnam, every child gets good education.
Both countries are almost middle income countries,” she said.
“Vietnam
spends three times more than Nigeria on education in terms of budget
allocation. In Nigeria, one in every 10 children do not reach their 5th
birthday, in Vietnam, it’s one in 50. Vietnam spends twice as much as Nigeria
on health. Vietnam is also struggling with inequality but you can see that the
outcomes for their people are different than those of Nigeria.
“It
is shameful that Nigeria should be there, the choices they have made are wrong
choices and IMF is not going to tell them how to do it, they have to do it
themselves.
Byanyima said
there is no difference between the behaviour of autocratic African leaders
and leaders of developed countries.
“Laws
and policies are being made in the interest of the few at the top. They change,
today he is the businessman, tomorrow he is the president and he is back to his
business the day after, that’s how it works and it is wrong,” she said.
“The
problem of political capture is everywhere and not just Nigeria, I only used
them as an example.
“In
Africa, it manifests itself as corruption but in the North here in the United
States, it manifests itself as bending the rules and creating rules for
yourself. It’s the same issue, political capture and the solution lies in us
claiming back our democracy, there are no shortcuts here.”
According to Byanyima, the index, which captures 150 countries, is based on fair taxation, social spending and labour rights.
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