Die hard poverty and the way around

Apart from the widespread high probability of getting killed, suddenly, by a clan of terrorists operating in Nigeria under an assortment of brand names, including Boko Haram and Bandits, plus killer herdsmen, the next most dreaded merchant of death in the country is poverty; mass abject poverty. Poverty is a scourge, the fruits of which manifest in a variety of negative attributes in those afflicted. This probably explains the global outcry against it. Poverty is a state of deprivation that robs men of their manhood, and women, the trappings of their God-given beauty. It replaces every good, with ignorance and all kinds of disease, including low self-esteem, loss of dignity and voicelessness. Above all, poverty, which may arise from lack of access to economic opportunities, works to accentuate such lack of access. It ensures that its victims are completely structured to the perimeter fences of meaningful economic activity. Unfortunately, we have, by our actions and inactions, made poverty a lot of some of our countrymen.

Is the Nigerian economy expanding? At best it is shrinking, and will get worse as the clan of terrorists expand and government appears violently silent

According to a report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), about 83million or 40 per cent of us live below the poverty line of N137,430 ($381.75) per year. Some say, this number is low or outrightly doctored. Well, until someone presents a contrary set of statistics, that is the situation. The “2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria” report, which contains this information is based on statistics from the latest round of the Nigerian Living Standards Survey, conducted in 2018-2019 with the support of the World Bank. This report, which came ten years after its predecessor is a vital database for the computation of various socio-economic and human development indices used in development planning. It is a credible report and it has affirmed that only 83 million of us are poor. That is still bad news. However, the issue to find out is what shall we do to significantly reduce this number? Luckily, the government made a plan to take 100 million of her citizens out of poverty over a period of ten years.

A lot of critics have mocked the poverty reduction plan of the government and declared it unworkable for different reasons. Perhaps, it would be profitable to look at the strategies used by some of the best performing countries in the business of poverty reduction. China is rated number one among countries that have made significant progress in poverty reduction, having reduced its poverty level from 97 per cent in 1087 to 1.7 per cent in 2018. According to the World Bank, over 730 million people have been lifted out of poverty from 1990 to 2015. A significant thing about China is that its economic growth is stable. Even in the pandemic, China, from which the virus escaped into the rest of the world, is still growing while others stagnate. Also, India, which transferred the poverty headquarters to Nigeria, has a growing economy. An expanding economy is an inevitable credential for poverty reduction. Is the Nigerian economy expanding? At best it is shrinking, and will get worse as the clan of terrorists expand and government appears violently silent. China is bullish on market orientation, which is vital for innovation and private enterprise. The decrease in her poverty headcount has been largely spurred by improvement in living standards brought about by improved availability of life-improving materials, including potable water, cooking fuel, improved sanitation and such and household empowerment. Brazil is the second-best performer in this effort. It achieved success by focusing on income inequality, using Continuous Cash Benefit programme to target the elderly, disabled, delivering serious welfare improvements. These programmes helped to reduce inequality and helped more parents send their kids to school.

Nigeria has introduced similar welfare programmes, including cash transfer and school feeding, but they are allegedly mangled in official corruption, such that they became ineffective. Canada is the next ranking performer in poverty reduction. Her strategy was to focus on homelessness and destitution. Nigeria has all the rudiments of great poverty reduction plans, including a successful microfinance programme. However, the failure of the government to transparently tackle the challenge of insecurity is a disaster. Today, for every one person that comes out of poverty in Nigeria, at least a dozen more are sucked in due largely to insecurity, which continues to multiply the number of the homeless and unemployed.