Re-Distribute Oil Wealth To Fight Poverty: UN

United Nations Deputy Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for South Sudan Lise Grande. [©Gurtong]

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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United Nations Deputy Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for South Sudan Lise Grande. [©Gurtong]The United Nations has called for re-distribution of oil wealth in South Sudan to help in eradicating poverty in the infant nation.

The United Nations Deputy Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for South Sudan Lise Grande says poverty eradication requires urgent attention as it affects a huge percentage of the country’s population.

She said the move which is in the government’s 2010-2013 development plan is in line with similar approaches in developing countries and needs urgent implementation as it has had significant impact on fighting poverty.

“What we are talking about is that the oil wealth is re-distributed so that every single family, Boma, County and State benefits. We are suggesting that the cash flow system is accelerated. South Sudan is going to be strong when the people themselves are benefiting from the wealth. What the cash flow transfer may do is to give the family extra money they need”, Grande told Gurtong in Juba on Sunday.

“The initiative will be a clear demonstration that the leadership of South Sudan is taking liberty and wealth directly to the people who have suffered for long and who deserve to be taken care of”, she added.

The official cited Namibia, South Africa and Congo as some of the post-war countries where the initiative has succeeded in kicking out poverty.

She explained that in Namibia, the leadership initiated the move after the liberation war by re-distributing its diamond revenue to the citizens. A similar move was also implemented in South Africa when the African National Congress (ANC) came to power Congo.

“There is a methodology that is too hard to implement it in South Sudan. The country is still underdeveloped and we have to be realistic with our objectives. However, once systems are in place, it will be an easy undertaking”, said Grande.

She said studies in many countries including Latin America, for instance Brazil, show that countries that have implemented these programs have managed to alleviate poverty to a larger extent.

“Studies show that in other countries where this is done 50 percent of all of the families who get the cash flow transfer spent it to improve food security, 30 percent on education and the last 20 percent on other areas like purchasing of agricultural implements and health among others”, she said.

South Sudan’s key revenue is oil which caters for 98 percent of all government expenditures. However, other potential sectors such as agriculture, tourism, mining to mention are yet to be exploited.

South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world with a high rate of maternal mortality rate, poverty and corruption.

According to a report released by the South Sudan Commission for Census, Statistics and Evaluation mid this year, a common family in the infant nation spends less than a dollar in a day.

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