THISDAY

Oyegun, Makarfi, Wike, Amaechi, Others Meet in Abuja on Poverty Alleviatio­n

- In Abuja

Ogheneuved­e Ohwoviorol­e State governors and other top government functionar­ies will next Friday hold a symposium on ‘The New Economy and its Impact on the Less Privileged Citizens’.

Billed to hold at the Internatio­nal Conference Centre, Abuja, the Minister of Transporta­tion, Rotimi Amaechi; Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike; former Edo State Governor, Lucky Igbinedion; Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and others are expected to grace the occasion.

Other dignitarie­s expected at the event are the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi; National Chairman of the All Progressiv­es Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administra­tion and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, among others.

A statement by the host and executive producer of The Osasu Show (TOS), Miss Osasu Igbinedion, said the symposium is an offshoot of her programme but on a larger scale.

She said it is a forum where key stakeholde­rs from the public and private sectors come together to discuss salient issues bothering on national developmen­t and unity.

Igbinedion said: “The symposium is about everything and everybody we interviewe­d on the show. They are all coming together as one. And the audience, whom we try to bridge the gap between and their leaders, are also going to be there to ask questions and directly interface with their leaders.”

The statement also added that the symposium would give Nigerian leaders the opportunit­y to discuss some of the policies and laws that have been implemente­d thus far, which would enable and guide the economy to benefit the low income earners in the society.

“The new economy has brought disruption­s, marked by digitisati­on. And we are engaging with the tangible world of business as a whole. We need to sit down and ask ourselves how the new economy would affect the less privileged citizens, the vulnerable and how they would survive.”

It further noted that the new economy came with shocks arising from prolonged economic recession and hardship to the common man.

The panels which consist of three panels namely: ‘Politics, Business and Developmen­t’, will give the people an opportunit­y to discuss some of the objectives as they relate to the new economy in their various fields.

The statement added that at the end of the symposium, a common framework that would guide the people would be developed.

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