Experts hold 1st town hall meeting on Twitter, tackle poverty

A public policy and economic think tank, The Peter Bauer Foundation (aka The Liberal Forum), has organised the first policy town hall on Twitter, bringing together prominent economists and public policy experts.

The robust online discussion which held recently focused attention on Nigeria’s alarming poverty rate and proffered policy solutions.

While explaining the significance of the event in a statement, the secretary of the foundation, Dr. Abimbola Agboluaje, said recently, the Brookings Institution announced that Nigeria has overtaken India, a country with over 1 billion people, as the country with the greatest number of poorest people in the world.

“Nigeria’s shocking poverty level isn’t surprising given our consistently weak governance and sub-optimal economic and public policies. Over the last 30 years, while emerging economies like India have come to grips with the challenges of structural economic reform, Nigeria have been hesitant, halfhearted and often subject to reversals.

“It is critical to start a serious discussion about and consistently focus public and political attention on economic and public policy that will boost investment and reverse the trend of deepening poverty in Nigeria,” Dr. Agboluaje further stated.

Participants at the policy town hall included notable experts like the CEO, Time Economics Ltd, Dr. Ogho Okiti; MD, Financial Derivatives Ltd, Mr. Bismarck Rewane; and a former chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi among others.