The International Women’s Day celebration in Nigeria on 9 March turned out an occasion to celebrate the many accomplishments of women since the inception of the Obasanjo Administration in 1999.

Whereas their counterparts elsewhere were marching through the streets on the day demanding better recognition women in Nigeria took time to count their blessing.
Since the coming of the administration, many more women have been appointed into prominent positions in the cabinet and administration with many of them winning accolades for superlative performance.

At commemorative event for the day at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton, President Olusegun Obasanjo pledged to appoint even more women into positions of high responsibility due ‘to their ability to deliver, transform’ and often times perform their duties with ‘transparency and accountability’.

The Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, read the President’s speech.

On the theme of this year’s celebration, which is “Women in Decision Making”, the President said it provided him a forum to rightly accord Nigerian women an excellent performance rating especially who have been appointed by this administration into various positions.

The president said, to strategically respond to the advancement of women under gender equality, development and peace, his government is geared towards improving the standards of women especially in the areas of balancing the perceived gender inequality “through appointment of women into those portfolios that were in the past seen as men’s exclusive schedules’’.

While stating that currently eight of his cabinet ministers are women out of which two are heading finance ministry, another two in charge of education and solid minerals sectors, he also said, women are heading the Bureau of Public Enterprises and NAFDAC.

In the political arena he said, his administration promotes the participation of women in policy and decision making process citing example that out of 50 presidential delegations for the National Political Reform Conference held last year, 20 was allotted to women so as to give them voice in the affairs of their country.

President Obasanjo said in further recognition of the plight of African women and particularly the Nigerian women, the movement has approved the appointment of six women zonal coordinators to increase their political participation in the 2007 elections.


The president said that currently an Executive Bill with regard to the convention against all forms of discriminations against women is before the National Assembly, and called on the Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the bill submitted to it last year.

He reminded women across the country that they have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear, assuring them that his administration will continue to promote policies that will enhance their advancement of women.

“Over the decades from 1985 till date we have seen tangible progress on many fronts, for instance, there is a growing recognition that gender equality is a prerequisite for eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development as stated in the Millennium Declaration,’’ he stated.

Poverty is an aspect of society that many of us would prefer to imagine does not exist. It is a sickness not just of the society I live in here in Nigeria, but of the world in general. When poverty is at its worst, it represents heartache and suffering for those unfortunate enough to find themselves without. The sad truth of poverty is that while there might be many sociological triggers that might lead to a life of poverty, the majority of the time it would seem that one is more likely to be born into poverty rather than create the situation for themselves. This tells us a lot about the manner in which different societies have chosen to somewhat ignore the economic disease. It also tells us that while we would like to believe that we live in a free country, in a world that values freedom high amongst human conditions, the reality is that the geographical location of birth will go a long way in determining the lifestyle of a child. This is not to say that where on is born shall always dictate the lifestyle ahead, however it would be foolish to believe location did not play a vital part in the structure of one's life. Ironically, the same might be said of religion. It has been suggested that a human being is actually born religiously neutral, and that it is the geographical, social and environmental conditions that we are born into that shall determine the manner in which we will choose to worship, if we choose to worship at all.Long gone is the time to try to find a source of blame for the fact that a child can be born into poverty. It serves no purpose to try to blame the parents, or parent, to blame the government, or to blame economic sanctions across the planet. It is high time, however, to ask if it shall serve a country to hold little importance to the social environment that shall allow a child to be born into poverty. It is high time that members of the community known as Australia begin to ask why a government feels it is of far more importance to spend the taxpayers money on instruments of war which shall, by their very design, lead to the death of an unknown number of human beings, whether they be innocent or not, rather than try to build an infrastructure that shall begin the process of making poverty history and create a larger sense of the birthright of freedom. If we truly have the heart and soul of our country in mind, then we should be questioning how many great minds are born into poverty, minds that might have been perfect to be shaped as the next leader for Australia, instead left to fend for themselves in a life of poverty, that will more than likely lead to a lack of education and more likely to a life of crime.If a child is born into an extremely wealthy family, has access to all his or her heart desires, has a family that is well established within the community, perhaps involved in politics, and is given the opportunity to experience the best in education from a young age, then of course we will all be shocked and surprised if the child turns around and begins to commit crimes against the community. It will, some will say, simply not make sense! Why would they choose a life of crime when they have everything they could want? Well, statistics will show that a scenario just as this one is quite a rare occurrence, which of course is the reason why one is to be surprised at the sudden choice in lifestyle. But what of the child that is born into a single parent home in the depth of poverty? This child does not have access to the best of education, his or her single parent (usually the mother) is far from wealthy, (in fact is struggling just to get a meal on the table), and the child is constantly standing in the shadows of violence that is found on a simple walk down the street. However the child has access to a television set, and learns that there are many nice things out there that he or she just must have. As the child grows, they will see around them supposedly easier ways to make money, such as theft and drug dealing, and will be taught by those that help to make up his or her small community. After all, money is needed to purchase all those things which are being flashed as must haves through the T.V. Screen. So when the child begins to commit crimes, are we as shocked and surprised as we were with the previous scenario?Unfortunately, I do not believe so. There are two basic statistics that are so overwhelmingly obvious that we take them to be unchangeable and necessary without worrying about further research. These are that the majority of all violent crimes committed in this country are done so by the male of the species, and the majority of all crime committed are done so by members of the lower economic class of citizens. Now if the court system of this country, and the moneys involved in incarceration, are proving to be a drain on the economy, then surely it is worth while to investigate what can be done to curve the two most basic of statistics? Obviously the fact that the male has proven to be the most violent of the two sexes definitely has biological origins as well as psychological and social ones. But if there is a correlation between poverty, unemployment and domestic violence and crime, then this would seem to me to be a matter that should be investigated to a degree that a working plan should be established to begin to try to end the vicious cycle. This of course will incorporate the theory that if a sincere effort is made to educate todays children with the knowledge of how they might involve themselves in the law making processes of this country, and how the current laws and structure of society is diminishing the free choices of people depending upon their economic situation, then in the future laws and economic structure might be influenced by those who have experienced true poverty. For it seems today that those in the seats of power very rarely stem from a life of poverty or want, and therefore cannot properly understand or appreciate the importance of attacking the problem. Does a politician of today truly comprehend the value of the money saved by flying economy rather than first class to a family that is suffering in poverty? Does todays politician truly understand that it is one thing to say that we all choose the life we live, and another to be born into a life of poverty and crime and face the enormous struggle to take advantages of the same opportunities that the wealthy are afforded?Obviously, when one wishes to offer ideas and theories that might help to make poverty history, literally thousands of ideas will be available, some quite basic and obvious, and some extremely complicated with reference to the field in which they are researched and created. And while each and every one of these are equally important and beneficial in motivation, I cannot help but feel the true beginnings of making poverty history lie in the communities willingness to become involved. Our very seat of motivation must be reignited. Perhaps for the first time in history, thanks to the internet and somewhat low costs of basic computer hardware, a higher number of individuals have the power to research and learn about the world around them on a much more personal level. We no longer need to leave the relative safety of our homes to investigate issues that we feel we would like to learn more about. We have greater access to information about how our country is being run, and the processes and motivations that establish the laws we live by.But does multi media help to advertise this new level of intelligent freedom? I think not. As soon as possible, we need to establish community centres whose sole position is to promote the need for all of us to remember that we belong to a society that represents the country we live in, and that by belonging to the said society we have a responsibility to be aware of some of the problems that need fixing. We no longer have an excuse to turn a blind eye. Poverty in Nigeria effects each and everyone of us in one way or another, whether it be struggling to keep the family unit together in an atmosphere of violence and crime, or ever increasing price tags on luxuries to compensate for theft, high taxes generated by a inflating welfare system, or the death of a friend or loved one through suicide or drug and alcohol abuse. It is obvious that as a community we can no longer simply assume that the government will deal with such a overwhelming problem, funded through the high taxes those of us lucky enough to have jobs pay. It is time that we become active in our day to day life within the community, even if it is only becoming more aware of the origin of the products we intend to purchase. We are now in the twenty first century, and we need community centres to reflect upon this, utilizing todays technology and being available to all who choose to walk through the doors. The centres should be designed to offer those who enter new levels of understanding with regards to mental freedom and life choices. These centres should not be static, rather they should be at the forefront of ideas and systems to attack the problem of poverty at the heart.People should be made to feel that these centres do not care if you are wealthy or are poor, and that they understand the current level of confusion that the churches and governments are maintaining through misinformation and stagnant ideals that no longer reflect the needs of the community. The centres should teach the youth how the country is being run and how one might become involved should they decide to after learning more about it. They should help those who walk in from the street confused about religion and how it should be integrated into their life should they choose such a path. They should be given the tools and help to investigate and research the choices that are available, and learn the history of each so that they might leave the centre with a better understanding and a feeling of freedom to choose via education rather than being the victims of hard sells from individuals that often do not understand their own product. Children and parents alike might be taught in the centres about the psychology of sales and marketing, about how different cross sections of people are targeted by companies in unique ways as to convince the potential customer that without their product they are somehow incomplete as an individual. With the help of the internet, the centres might offer those who are interested a different and new way of trying to understand what is happening in the world, and the real reasoning behind some of the decisions that lead to war and suffering, which of course results in the creation of more poverty. People of all economic statures will begin to understand that they no longer must rely upon a one sided view of the world through the regular media that they have let dictate their lives. They will begin to view technology as a tool to expand their level of awareness and aid in their ability to question the information that is being fed to them.As the centres begin to gain in popularity, so too will the number of centres around the country begin to grow. People will begin talking amongst each other of important issues for the first time in many years. Children of poverty who normally would have a life of crime and violence to look forward to will be empowered with the knowledge that there are other choices, that if they choose to live a life of crime they are simply becoming a subservient to the system rather than attempting to grow as an individual. Rather than their anger being spewed out onto the streets, perhaps they will find in the centre differing methods of striking out at the society that has left them with such little freedom in reality. They will have the ability to learn of how to involve themselves in the law making processes, and the steps that need to be taken. In effect, the centres will turn the wall that seems to divide the wealthy community from the poor into one of glass rather than one of brick. The wall will become less daunting. The community as a whole will begin to turn around and question some of the aspects they have always assumed to be written in stone and unchangeable. One might hope that these centres will create a sense of unity in the community, and when there is unity and education there exists the possibility of change. And change is what is drastically needed in todays world.When a community finds the motivation to unite under common causes, then there is less likely to be a blind eye turned to the suffering of others around us. Instead we will be more inclined to think of ways to help one another. When this begins to take place, poverty will have a new and powerful enemy. When members of the community are given the chance to question the power structures, the laws that govern us, the religious structures and the manners in which they attempt to control us and the laws of the community, and the ways in which large corporations wish to separate us from our money, then power is once again given to the community. When the poor begin to realize that a lack of money does not always mean a life of ignorance and complacency, then the poor shall begin to experience a sense of motivation and a sense of confidence that can only reflect positively upon the community in general. If centres that offer such services begin to appear throughout the country, then I believe the seed of change will be given the chance to sprout. It is said that knowledge is power, and never before has knowledge been so accessible and cheap. As a community we must learn to stand on our own two feet, and help those around us that need it. The centres should let us all know, young and old, that the governing factions of this country are not beyond our control. The centres should begin to inject positive opportunities into poverty infected communities so that they might for the first time understand there are ways in which to combat the problem. To let people know there are methods to improve oneself and ones surroundings. There can be created a sense of freedom for the children of today, without doubt our most important possession as a country.Suffering and violence might always be a part of life, but the level at which it is a part is adjustable by a society that has faced the challenge to become aware and empower individuals with knowledge, thanks to the advances of technology and the availability of information. Then perhaps, as generations go by, the governing powers of this country might find itself including representatives of a life of poverty and compressed freedoms, and thus be in a position to begin the process of change within the laws and economic structures that we all live beneath. And if similar processes are proving successful around the world, then perhaps countries will be in a better position to negotiate and offer aid to one another, rather than cry freedom while supporting wars and governments that so obviously turn a blind eye to the suffering of great numbers of people. Making poverty history in Nigeria might be far more difficult than ever imagined, however using poverty to expand the level of awareness in both our community and in the future seats of power in this country seems to me to be a lot more achievable.

At an out set to state that, the increase of financial support will give direct impact on the poverty reduction of the people. Even the poverty cannot be measured by mere financial terms alone, but it is comprehensive and integrated in nature.Dimension of poverty and context of poverty very vast and comprehensive one, it needs to understand various components of the poverty. It is a prevailing for the with mankind, the issues spread across the world. The poverty always depends of social dimension, economic deprivations, cultural barriers, environmental effects, natural calamities so on. So it varies from location to location, region-to-region, country-to-country.The statement reveals that increase the financial support could be one of the solutions for reduction of poverty, but it never is an ultimate solution for the reduction or removal of poverty. It would substantiate with social-economic, cultural and environmental aspect. Any intervention on poverty reduction or removal need to be integrated approach and interventions, it does include financial, capacity building, skill development and social capital enhancement so on, some time should go together hand in hand.The concept of poverty must be understood and why in general is stricken with poverty. The issue whether poverty can be eradicated? Poverty could be defined as lack of shelter, hunger, inability to go to school and not knowing ho to basic numeric and literacy skill. No proper clothing, being ill health and unable access services and care, and lack opportunity for primary education.Let us understand the present situation in this part of region. Start with proverb “don’t give them fish, but teach them how to fish”. In a contrary, is true in the case of people are ready reached the river to fish. Where as man people are unable to reach the river due to the social barriers, social control, hurdles etc. The effort is require making the people reach to the river with out any biases, hurdle, and controls. They must feel free to work on their on. The any intervention in this aspect should act and catalyst or a facilitator for removal of socio-cultural and political hurdles among the poor rather than the financial direct support.When discus about the term” poor”, it also important to look at the different angle of poverty. In any community, country as whole once can see the two type of poor people. One is enterprising poor and non-enterprising poor on the other hand. Enterprising poor is a poor who is motivated to come out of poverty trap, he struggle or strives to come out of the poverty on its own way by seeking support of external agency, government schemes so on. Any support and interventions with enterprising poor will be utilized and would see a substantial results and the impact over a period of time in the life. Non-enterprising poor is not motivated, he is frustrated and lost hope in the life and satisfy with what he is. He has no vision in the life due to lack of exposure and cultural barriers. The support provide to non-enterprising poor will not fetch any result.The intervention is required to make the people independent. Independently to think, act and manage their own needs social - economic and guaranteed for livelihood opportunities. Its all-important that increase the skill, knowledge and attitudinal behavioral changes among the people. Therefore the poverty reduction approach is requiring to multi dimensional and comprehensive approach. Here are discussed few of the interventions.1. Knowledge, awareness and skill enhancement: Skill and competence of people are needed to be enhances. Due to people have lack of access for education and life skill practices to improve the better living conditions are needed to be addressed. This approach will not yield immediate result, but slow progressive and impact will get later stages, even-direct impact cannot be seen unless those are put into practices. Effort towards this increase of the knowledge and various skill enhancement process in long term and much emphasized activities would result the improve the standard of living of the people.2. Information on health, education, and various livelihood opportunities and options are to be provided in right time and right people.3. Intervention capital formation process is very essential components for improve the economic development and ensure economic security of the poor people. Access for micro credit facility to fulfill the basic consumption needs and followed with income generation activities/micro enterprises to augmentation of income of the family is necessary.4. Ensure social capital could be other important option of intervention.5. Institutional building of the poor for enhances the livelihood opportunities and overall development of poor. It has been proved in many countries. Self Help Groups for micro credit ant enterprises needs of the poor.6. Confidence building and enhance social esteem in the society, where the people are recognized as important and productive mankind in the society. That the society realizes the full potentials of man.7. Institutional policy support, the state and country need to provide policy support where poor will get space to advocate their voice and choices are considered. The subsidy, poverty alleviation schemes given in fovour of them.The integrated approach and inter sectorial coordination essential are essential in these effort. Of all intervention would need long to period to see and impact and continuously provided. Of course the financial aid is essential component for all the above issues and strategies are put in practice. Increase the financial aid will be affecting to increase the strategic interventions and formulate the projects for the poor to bring them above the poverty line.I feel more and more country, intellectual people, and policy frame should come forward to make the poverty history, not only more and more financial support but moral and intellectual, ethical supports are more important. Let all work for it……, be a part of it.

Many of us would wish to help Humanity, but we are perplexed and our power seems limited. We are gripped with despair, and those of us who have the strongest passion suffer the most from the sense of impotence, and are most liable to spiritual ruin through lack of hope.So long as we think only of the immediate future, it seems that what we can do is not much. It is probably impossible for us to bring the war on poverty to an end. We must recognise that the world is ruled in a wrong spirit and that a change of spirit will not come from one day to the next. Our expectations must not be for tomorrow but for the time when what is thought now by a few shall have become the common thought of many. If we have courage and patience we can think the thoughts and feel the hopes by which sooner or later men will be inspired and weariness and discouragement will be turned into energy and passion. For this reason, the first thing we have to do is to be clear in our own minds as to the kind of life we think good and the kind of changes that we desire in the world. - Bertrand Russell

Debt Cancellation is the amount of Debt that has to be taken out from the country so that the country can divert its resources to some meaningful projects. Financial Aide is also the powerful solution to eradicate the poverty as it assists to cover up the deficiency of some meaningful resources.Countries with heavy debt burden can not be able to meet their financial obligation towards the development of the country because of the deficiency of resources. Financial Aide will provide a support to those countries that lack resources for the development of the country. Effective and Efficient Planning will provide the way to utilize the resources in effective and efficient manner towards the development of the country. Poverty is the result of scarce resources as the demand of the resources increases and its supply becomes limited. In order to increase the supply we must have to increase the available resources.


Eradication of Poverty by Debt Cancellation and Financial AideFinancial aid is required to fill the gap between the available resources and resources required.Due to Debt, the country can’t be able to utilize its resources completely. The government can`t be able to utilize it’s full resources and as a result the country can come into financial and economical crises.Problem of POVERTY arises when the country is in short of resources for the development. The greater percent of peoples are lacking from the basic needs of life. Literacy rate comes down because people force their great struggle to get the basic needs of life. Skilled manpower will be lacking in the market. Poverty is basically the indicator where the hampering of economy of the country starts.As per subject mentioned that financial aide and debt cancellation can eradicate the poverty so, Financial Aide and debt cancellation are utilized to kick the country to drive and increase it’s resources so that Poverty can be curbed and reduced.The most important thing is that the Financial Aide and Debt Cancellation can help the country to at least give a initial start to reduced its Poverty Level BUT The resources should be utilized effectively and efficiently so that the objective of minimizing poverty can be worked out. The resources should not be misused or lost due to some reasons. There should be proper control and planning for the utilization of resources in an efficient manner.Efficient Utilization of Resources
Funds should be utilized for the enterprise development.
Funds should be invested for educational projects so that literacy rate can be improved.
Funds should be utilized for the infra structural development. CONCLUSION:Debt Cancellation and Financial aide can reduce the poverty level but there must be effective and efficient utilization of funds.

One Important thing I want to clear. I don’t differentiate people by their religion, race and status. I love to work with people of every country, culture, race, religion and status

Mandela, former South African president and former prisoner of that country's apartheid government, called for trade justice, an end to rising debts for the poorest countries, and more and higher-quality aid.


"Where poverty exists, there is not true freedom," said Mandela, who wore a white strip of cloth around his wrist. "The world is hungry for action, not words. I am proud to wear the symbol of this global cause to action."


Walking with a stick and wrapped in a black coat and brown fur hat, Mandela made an impassioned speech in front of South Africa House, for decades a symbol of apartheid.


"Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times ... that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.


"In this new century, millions of people in the world's poorest countries remain imprisoned, enslaved and in chains," he said. "They are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free."


Britain holds the presidency of the Group of Eight nations this year, and G8 leaders have promised to focus on the issue of poverty when they meet in Scotland in July.


Mandela called on the world's leaders to honor their commitments to the world's people.

Information & communication technology nowadays has improved in such a way that this enormous world has become a global village. It has made business, the economy and democracy, among others, to be competitive by easy access through the Internet."