Duke: Poverty, Not Ethnicity, is Nigeria's Main Challenge

Donald Duke, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), stated on Tuesday that poverty is Nigeria's greatest problem, overshadowing issues of ethnicity and religion. He argued that even in a nation with a single religion and ethnic group, poverty would still lead to divisions, referencing Somalia as an example.

Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, is running for the 2027 presidential elections to shift the focus of discussions towards poverty and its impact on the youth, who he believes are losing hope. He highlighted Nigeria's alarming statistics, including being home to the highest number of out-of-school children and poor individuals globally.

Duke proposed that addressing poverty through productivity is essential for overcoming Nigeria's development challenges. He also linked the country's security issues to poverty and advocated for the decentralization of the security architecture, suggesting that localizing security is crucial for effective intelligence gathering.