By our Correspondent
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, has identified investment in infrastructure, education, and healthcare as vital to eradicating poverty, citing China’s model of addressing root causes.
Speaking at a strategic stakeholders’ workshop organized by the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria in Abuja, the country’s capital, Yu, represented by Sun Xuekun, the Counselor of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy, provided insights into how China was able to eradicate absolute poverty 10 years ahead of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, lifting over 800 million people from privation.
While the feat accounted for more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction and transformed China into a major contributor to global poverty alleviation efforts, Yu noted that nearly 100 million rural residents remained below the poverty line at the end of 2012, all of whom were lifted out of poverty by the end of 2020.
During this period, China removed 98.99 million rural residents, 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 impoverished villages from poverty status, the envoy said.
He attributed the success to strong government leadership, targeted poverty alleviation policies and sustained economic development.
According to him, the Chinese government invested nearly 1.6 trillion yuan (over 238 billion U.S. dollars) in special poverty alleviation funds and deployed more than 3 million officials and village work-team members to support poverty reduction efforts. China also shifted its focus from broad poverty relief programs to targeted interventions, based on detailed assessments of individual household and community needs.
“These measures included industrial development, relocation from inhospitable areas, educational support, ecological compensation programs and expanded social protection,” Yu said.
Also speaking at the event, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs—who represented Permanent Secretary Dunoma Umar Ahmed—said in a goodwill message that China’s development experience offered useful lessons in long-term planning, infrastructure-led growth, targeted poverty reduction programs and domestic resource mobilization.
The Nigerian official underscored the need for a careful assessment of China’s trajectory to identify strategies that could be adapted to Nigeria’s poverty reduction efforts, while accounting for local social, political and economic realities.
Nigeria, like many other developing countries, continues to face challenges such as poverty, unemployment and inequality, which require pragmatic and collaborative responses, he said.
He emphasized that the adoption of any development strategy must reflect each country’s unique institutions, values, and social context.
He called on the Nigerian government to adapt key aspects of the Chinese model that could be adopted to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen social protection systems, promote public-private partnerships and expand human capital investments, all while maintaining transparency, accountability and democratic governance.
The official recommended that policymakers design reforms suited to local realities with effective implementation and monitoring, while development partners provide technical expertise and financing aligned with national priorities.
Urging the workshop participants to produce practical recommendations capable of accelerating sustainable poverty reduction in Nigeria, the foreign ministry official reaffirmed the government’s commitment to deepening international cooperation, encouraging knowledge exchange and promoting partnerships that attract responsible investment, technology transfer and capacity-building. (GSF)