The author of Encyclopedia of Life’s Realities, Godwin Agbese, has promised to donate 10 percent of what he makes from the sale of the book to charity.
He made the statement at the launching of the book in Lagos.
Agbese is the junior brother to Dan Agbese, former Editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine.
He disclosed that the decision to donate the percentage of the money stemmed from the recent report which showed that Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the highest population of extreme poor people in the world.
Though the money may not be up to billions, Agbese said that it was part of his contribution towards lifting the country from extreme poverty which it has degenerated to.
In his words, “The poverty level in Nigeria is an indictment of successive Nigerian governments which have mismanaged the country’s vast oil riches through incompetence and corruption. According to UN statistics, 86.9 million Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty.
“As at June 25, 2018, Nigeria had taken over as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people on Earth.
“Before now, India used to hold the position with a population of 1.324 billion people as against Nigeria’s 180 million.
“UN report states that the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six persons every minute. It is needless to emphasize the fact that there is a need for coherent and comprehensive economic reforms.”
The author further explained that the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs spread across different states of the federation would move people to support them.
READ ALSO: Atiku will lift Nigeria out of poverty- Group
“The main focus of my charity drive right now will be to ameliorate the precarious condition of internally displaced people scattered all over the nation.
“Nigeria has 3.3 million persons displaced by conflict – the highest number in Africa. A Brooklyn reports states and I read “Violence, abuses, and forced evictions all add to the conflict-mix.
“In Nigeria we see how challenging life becomes for those already displaced by conflict when they are struck down again by severe flood. On a global scale, Nigeria is only ranked behind Syria with 6.5 million IDPs and Colombia with 5.7 million IDPs’’
Agbese, who stated that he had face a lot of challenges in the course of writing the book, expressed gratitude to colleagues, friends and well wishers who encouraged him to move on.
The book 711 paged can fit book into either a motivational, religious or philosophy material. He said many Nigerians both at home and abroad have requested to have a copy of the book.
The book reviewer, Sandra Mbanaso said the book which has 21 chapters’ deals with general issues of life like perception, love, relationship, marriage and leadership.
She said, “Its aim is to reveal the concealed realities in our world so that we can be adequately guided when taking important decisions and actions.”
