When David Beasley, the director of UN’s World Food Programme tweeted last month challenging billionaires to step up to the table and save the world from hunger, in my usual pessimism shrug to everything United Nations, i thought it was another wolf cry that will fall on deaf ears. Now don’t blame me, it is just how i see everything from the UN, and i have been proven right on more occasions than i can count. Especially being from Africa and all the promises to eradicate poverty in the continent, yet not a single thing has been done in the positive direction.
But to my surprise, and this is the first time i am getting surprised by anything concerning the UN. I also believe that David Beasley himself did not think anyone would take up to the challenge when he tweeted the call to act. But it seems that is the case right now as world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has thrown himself into the ring and accepted the challenge if David Beasley and his World Food Programme can produce figures of how his $6 billion can really save the planet from starving.
Beasley said: “Just $6 billion could keep 42 million people from dying.”
Elon Must in turn has offered to sell Tesla stock assuming the World Food Programme with the use of transparent and open accounting can show exactly how it would work.
If they “can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion will solve world hunger, i will sell Tesla stock right now and do it”, Elon Musk tweeted.
2% of Elon Musk’s wealth is $6 billion.
But if what the Director said is the bottom-line truth, can he explain to us how come the U.N World Food Programme couldn’t solve world hunger with the $8.4 billion it raised in 2020?
