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The Enveloping Ecology Of Poverty By Jide Ayobolu Abuja-Nigeria.
There have been various attempts to deal with grinding poverty in Nigeria. But it seems the attempts have not in any tangible way yielded positive results, by way of bring succour to the people, in terms to concrete economic palliatives. This worrisome trend undoubtedly is a worrisome development, bearing in mind the fact that; the fundamental reason why people are in government is to see to the welfare and wellbeing of the masses. Although, this very position is indeed a very contentious one in Nigeria, where public office holders have abandoned the people and are helping themselves with public funds. And, as they are getting richer, the masses are being pauperized; a case in point is that of a prominent politician who could not boost N20, 000 in 1998, but today is perhaps the richest individual in the whole of Africa, courtesy of relentless, but clandestine pilfering of the resources of the state, yet he pretends he is sanctimonious wog. In Nigeria today, the issue of poverty is a recurring decimal. Poverty has really become a sing-song. Spiritually poverty is a curse. Socio-economically, it is a state of extreme want, need and deprivation. When the present democratically elected government led by President Olusegun Obasanjo came on board in 1999, one of the cardinal programme and philosophy of his administration was poverty reduction which had by then become endemic. To this end, he created the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) which became a lame duck, and at the end of the day N15billion was sunk into programme and nothing concrete came out of it. Hence, National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) was put in place; however, it has not been able to meet the aims and objectives for which it was created, instead, it has been a drain-pipe on government’s lean purse. This led the government to set up another poverty reduction initiative called Investment led Poverty Reducing Employment which has equally failed very woefully. The point here is that any government programme that does not have the people as the aim and essence will be nothing, but a tantalizing mirage. Yes, poverty in Nigeria did not start with the present government in 1999; it has been with us for quite a while now. For instance, in 1986, according to official figures, three million Nigerians were unemployed. Of these, those below 25 years accounted for 73.1 per cent, young school leavers accounted for the bulk of the employed with 60.3 per cent and 46.2 per cent in the urban and rural areas respectively. The Gross National Product has been declining. The decline in the housing sector averages about 10 per cent, that of manufacturing 6.4 per cent and 5 per cent for construction, wholesale and retail sectors. However, the agriculture sector has been improving by an annual average of 2.2 per cent. Expressed in real terms, by an average of 36.7 per cent. No doubt is the largest producer of cassava, albeit, much of this is lost to waste because of the absence of good storage facilities. In spite of this, the country go a begging to imperialist creditors for debt forgiveness that was partially given on very stringent conditions that were not favourable to the country, even at that, the present government has stated accumulating another rounds of debt, the so-called economic reform policy of the government is not working because the people are not benefiting from it in any way, because, poverty looms large in the country. Therefore, the reforms should be reformed. It is also important to note that, the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) in 1995 estimated that at least half of Nigeria’s teeming population are regarded as undernourished, the 71 million ill-fed Nigerians constitutes 25 per cent of the 200million under nourished Africans alone. It is equally important to note that, the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of Nigeria in 2001 was $41billion, that of South Africa was $113billion, Malaysia $188 billion, Korea $9,460, United Kingdom $25,120 and United States of America $34,000. It is very clear therefore that, Nigeria is not only grossly underdeveloped, it is poverty ridden. Hence, it would be apropos if the government of the day could create conditions in which Nigerians could be very productive and self-employed. All the present government is arguing about foreign investment but Nigerians should be able to invest in their own economy that is when real development can actually take place. However, this is not the case, for example, according to the UNDP report 2002, 70 per cent out of every 120 Nigerians live below the poverty line. Also, the report emphasized that, Nigeria is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. Nigeria also ranked 57th in terms of Gross National Product (GNP). Equally, the country is 124th in gender related development and 151st in Human Development Index. Nigeria’s contribution to global Gross Domestic Product being mere 0.22 per cent and also ranking 187th in GNP per capita income. In the Human Development Index report 2002, out of the 173 countries whose living conditions were assessed, Nigeria ranked 148th behind Madagascar and Haiti. The African country with the best condition is the Island of Seychelles which occupied the 47th position in the reports ranking, coming a distant second was Libya in the 64th position, while Cape Verde, Algeria and South Africa were ranked 100th, 106th and 107th respectively. According to official report conducted in 2002, it was reported that 91 per cent of Nigerian household are poor, in fact, 89 million Nigerians are living the international poverty benchmark of $1 a day. The poverty level figure which translates to about 70.2 per cent of the country’s population makes Nigeria the country with the highest concentration of people living in extreme poverty in Africa. Also, the country’s health system performance was ranked 187th amongst the 191 member states by the World Health Organization (WHO), and public expenditure on health in Nigeria is less than $8 per capita, compared to the $34 recommended internationally. This is supported by the worrisome 2004 Human Development report that placed Nigeria in the 151st position out of the 177 ranked in order of poverty. Also, in the latest World Bank report Ghana is rated far ahead of Nigeria in such areas as corruption, rule of law, good governance, infrastructural development, democratic ideals/ethos etc. Yet, the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides in section 16(1b) that, government shall control of the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity, while section 16(2d) states suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens. But government has not been able to do any of this, and since 1999 to date, Nigeria has never had it so good, in terms of revenue from oil as result of upsurge in prices at the international market. So, how can Nigeria that is the sixth largest oil producing country in the world be one of the poorest countries in the world? It means therefore that the Obasanjo‘s government has failed irredeemably. In the country today, it is indeed an enveloping ecology of poverty. Grinding poverty is ubiquitous and if adequate care is not taken, it can grind the country to a halt; hence, it is time to vote for a better Nigeria, for all Nigerian. |