Stop Multiplying and Grow more economic opportunities in your country - US envoy urges Nigerians

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, has urged the government and people of Nigeria to focus more on growing economic opportunities rather than increasing population.

To him, the country stands to gain more if it concentrates effort on economic opportunities that can create wealth for the country and its people instead of boosting its current population size.

The envoy faulted claims that most of the country’s resources had been stolen. He said in 2017, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 6 per cent while the average GDP in the G-20 countries was 30 per cent with that of the United States standing at about 25 per cent.

He believes this low level GDP accounted for poverty and low income in the country and not the narrative that most of the resources were stolen. He urged the media to be more circumspect and ask the right question to avoid misleading the people.

Ambassador Symington made the comments at a two-day workshop on election reporting organised for journalists by the United States Embassy in Abuja. The training ended on Wednesday.

Symington described the people as the pillar of democracy and likened them to the engine of a ship which determines how far the ship can go. He noted that a critical responsibility of the media is to ensure stability of democracy through accurate, balanced and objective reporting.

He tasked the media to ask the right questions from candidates on what they have already done for their states and communities as this will help voters make a more informed choice of candidates.