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| Edgerton Crescent - Credits: Google Earth |
By Chukwudi Oladimeji Akasike
A philanthropist and Chairman of New Nation, an empowerment-oriented group, Mr. Charles Dukwe, has said that 70 percent of the most expensive buildings in London are owned by Nigerians.
Dukwe explained on Saturday that owners of the houses might have corruptly enriched themselves, adding that people from the United Kingdom avoid buying houses in the area due to their (houses) expensive prices.
The philanthropist spoke with newsmen in Port Harcourt shortly after unveiling the ‘Queen of Compassion and Kill the Killers Initiative;’ a grassroots campaign against diabetes and high blood pressure.
Present at the event as brand ambassadors are Nollywood stars like Ini Edo, Uche Jombo, Monalisa Chinda and Desmond Elliot.
Dukwe lamented that some Nigerians were investing funds from Nigeria in Europe and other Western countries.
Calling on Nigerians to embrace compassion and show love to each other, Dukwe observed that Nigeria was going through a lot of challenges as a result of corruption that had brought rot to the system.
"There is a street in London; it is called Edgerton Crescent. Edgerton Crescent is the most expensive street in the world. Houses there are worth three million pounds, four million pounds.
"British celebrities that have money don't buy houses on that street. They will tell you it is too expensive. But 70 percent of the houses there are owned by Nigerians."
"The most missing thing in Nigeria is compassion. We want to use compassion as a value and drive it through people so that people can help each other in the society. Our aim is to make compassion a core-value in the society."
He noted that the Kill the Killers Initiative was established to attack the major diseases that cut short the lives of the people in Nigeria and Africa in general.
According to him, diabetes and high blood pressure form over 60 percent of the cause of deaths among adults in Nigeria, just as malaria form 70 percent of the deaths among children in the country.
"Kill the Killers Initiative is designed to attack the principal diseases that cut short the lives of our people unnecessarily in Nigeria and across Africa.
"The programme begins with an organised effort against diabetes and high blood pressure, which form over 60 percent of the cause of deaths among adults in the country and malaria, which forms 70 percent of the cause of death among children.
"In Nigeria and across Africa, we have failed immeasurably by paying little or no attention to principal diseases that cut the lives of our people short and thus leaving our life expectancy to numbers way below all the advanced nations," he said.
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