A friend and I attended a burial somewhere in Delta State on June 25, 2021. At the funeral were the high and mighty- captains of industries, politicians, ranking officers; as well as the lowest of the lows. Every social strata of the Nigerian society was represented. As it is with most burial ceremonies these days, it was a carnival of sort.
While the ceremony went on, something happened that sent shock waves down my spine. The invited guests were treated to sumptuous meals and assorted drinks. As they ate, the caterers would clear the tables and do the dishes. In the process, the leftovers were either poured into a wastebin or left on the open field. As that went on, children- some with sores in their hands or legs, obviously from the neighbourhood scampered for the remnants on the ground. They literally packed every grain of rice with sand and grasses either directly into their mouths or polythene bags to be taken home. The sight was not only horrifically disgusting, it also made me sick.
Then, my friend told me he met someone who couldn’t afford sachet water within the week or so. These and other examples, perhaps around you, underscore the ravaging poverty that pervades the length and breadth of the country. According to the World Poverty Clock, as of October 17, 2021, there are a whooping 86,847,507 Nigerians living in extreme poverty, using a threshold of $1.9 per day. Note, the figures above represent only those living in extreme poverty! I’m sure you can now appreciate the enormity of the challenge we have in our hands. There is hunger in the land. Granted, successive governments have failed woefully at bettering the lots of Nigerians, but some citizens are architects of their predicaments. Below are some of the causes and cures of poverty.
Uncontrolled Birth
Without looking to Harvard or the World Bank for data, one can easily see the correlation between uncontrolled birth and poverty or quality of life of a household by merely looking around one’s environment. On the average, low income families tend to have more kids than high income ones. For instance, how do a household of 7 (father, mother and 5 kids) with a monthly income of say N60,000 come out of poverty? House rent, cost of food, school fees, medical expenses, clothing, you name it. Couples must consciously adopt child spacing and carefully plan the number of kids in line with their income. I’m strongly in support of birth control through education but not depopulation through any other means.
Low Productivity
Though GDP per capita is abysmally low on the continent, which in my opinion is largely attributable to poor leadership and corruption, Nigeria has no business with a GDP per capita of $2,097.1 (World Bank’s 2020 GDP per capita data). This is especially when Gabon is on $7,005.9; Botswana, $6,711.0; South Africa, $5,090.7; Namibia, $4,211.1; Libya, $3,699.2; Egypt, $3,547.9; Djibouti, $3,425.5; Tunisia, $3,319.8; Algeria, $3,310.4; Cape Verde, $3,064.3; Morocco, $3,009.1; Ghana, $2,328.5; Cote d’Ivoire, $2,325.7. Agriculture has to be made attractive, small and medium enterprises have to be revitalized, factories and warehouses have to spring up, and there must be value addition to any export product. For all these to happen, there must be well articulated policy thrust and a genuine will to see it through. This is the major missing link in Nigeria and Africa.
However, citizens must also pick themselves up to work. Instead of looking for easy money, people have to develop skills and work. Apart from teachers, doctors and other specialized service providers, a lot of core civil servants don’t contribute Jack to GDP.
Education
According to Nelson Mandela, ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ No doubts, education has a great role to play in the fight against poverty but certainly not with the current curriculum. Some programmes no longer have relevance in today’s economy, let alone future ones. Schools have to reinvent themselves to remain in tune with current realities. Technical, vocational and entrepreneurship education must be accorded their rightful places if meaningful progress will be made regarding the war against hunger and poverty in Nigeria.
A friend also brought out a salient point in the course of our discussion. Girl child education. He opined that “When you educate the girl child, you avert early marriages and reduction of her child producing age. This will reduce number of kids. Hence, educating these kids are inevitable.” I totally agree with him. In addition, educating the girl child will not only ultimately increase her household income but also lead to more prudent management of available resources, thereby immensely contributing to the fight against poverty.
On its part, government has to provide the enabling environment for innovations, entrepreneurship and general productivity. Infrastructural development, on needs assessment basis, must take the front burner; and the oga kpata kpata of them all, insecurity must be tackled head-on.
