From Ahmad Muhammad, Bauchi
The former speaker of the Federal House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara has explained that poverty is a great threat to democracy in Nigeria.
Dogara said this during a programme that took place at Marriott hotel, Ikeja-Lagos State, Nigeria in a speech which was made available to reporters by Dogara media aide Turaki Hassan Adamu.
He said with majority of the citizens in abject poverty shows democracy is not working for the majority of the citizens of the country.
He said that, “Our democracy is not working for majority of our citizens. This is because, although they are alive and free, they lack the means with which to pursue happiness.
“Poverty is a greater threat to a democracy than weak institutions simply because it deprives poor citizens not only of their political voice but prevents them from holding their governments accountable, shattering public trust in the emerging institutions of democracy”.
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