The 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, broke down in tears while delivering his speech at the United Nations meeting to reach Sustainable Development Goals in Lagos.
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) however condemned the rapid increase of inequality being experienced in the country on Thursday.
Citing an example, the monarch gave an account of a painful situation he had witnessed.
According to Sanusi, a woman carrying a sick child walked into his palace which is just 200m from a children’s hospital in the community to seek for help.
The traditional ruler said that he had heard a very loud scream so he directed someone to check what happened but the person came back with tears in his eyes.
While waiting for her turn to ask for money to buy a drug which costs less than $5 (1,800 naira) for her baby, the woman had lost him.
“And how much was this? It was less than five dollars,” he sobbed.
“This is what happens every day in this country. Children die because their parents cannot afford five dollars; that a mother will watch her child die because she does not have five dollars,” the traditional ruler added.
