Ahead the World Economic Forum on Africa, that took place in Abuja, between May 7 and 9, 2014, Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International executive director, said, “Inequality in Africa is rising to dangerous levels and unless checked, will undermine the usefulness of economic growth on the continent.
“Inequality will endanger progress in Africa. Africa’s precious resources must benefit ordinary Africans.”
This is further highlighted by recent happenings in some African nations.
A recent report placed Nigeria as the capital to the poorest people in the world, overtaking India to stay at that position, according to World Data Lab, a predictive analytics social enterprise, released June 2018.
Byanyima said Africa’s economic profile was “schizophrenic,” with sharp growth occurring while stubbornly high numbers of people remain locked into poverty. The result is ballooning inequality.
“Africa’s economic growth is capturing the headlines and there is much to build upon,” she said. The average growth rate of the region, excluding South Africa, is very high at 6 percent. This growth is enriching some, more than others.
Africa has the fastest rising number of dollar millionaires of any other region in the world. It now has 29 billionaires – up from just two in 2003. The wealth of the three richest Africans, at $39 billion, is more than Kenya’s entire GDP in 2012.
The flip side to this wealth creation is that six out of the 10 most unequal countries in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa. The region is the only one where the numbers of poor people has actually increased, to more than double what it was at the beginning of the 80s, she said further.
I don’t know whether you see what I see, because when I was growing up, I learned in elementary economics that the ideal society is that that has more of its citizens in the middle-class. With more in this class, the economy will be stable and the standard of living will always be improved on a gradual process.
But today, in most African countries and Nigeria in particular, this middle-class is being eroded, not minding recent statistics that the middle-class is growing in Nigeria. Look around; you will notice people are leaving the cities to the outskirts of town. Not because they have built their own houses, but because they can no longer afford rents in the cities, hence, they have to move to the outskirts where rents are cheaper.
In differentiating between rich and poor countries, the term ‘developing country’ has evolved over many years. At first, poor countries were tagged “Third World.’ Because the term was regarded as derogatory, it was later changed to ‘Under-developed’ countries. This, too, was regarded as demeaning and having a negative connotation. Finally, it evolved to ‘Developing nations.’
I think this new term has come to stay, because it is a reality in our world today. The unfortunate thing is that, even within one country, these two words exist (developed and developing).
In Nigeria, for example, it is believed that about 40 percent of the nation’s total income goes to the upper 10 percent of households, while the lower 20 percent households must make do with about 5 percent of the total income. No wonder a recent survey revealed that about 70 percent of Nigerians are living below the poverty level.
Think of the clear disadvantages being suffered by the poor. Access to adequate healthcare is seriously inadequate. In developed nations, it is estimated that there is one doctor for every 242 to 539 people, whereas, in our case, it is one doctor to about 4,000 to 5,000 people.
In this case, it is only the rich that can afford adequate medical attention. The poor go to the general hospitals, where thousands queue to meet with few doctors. At the end, he/she is not able to buy the prescribed drugs and as such, the sickness persists.
Understandably, the life expectancy of the rich is 70 years and above, while that of the poor is well below 50. Just imagine, if this class is allowed to be eroded, who will tend our industries in the future? At the end, we will be back to the status quo.
Early 2004, the French newspaper Le Figaro, stated that malaria killed about 3,000 children on the African continent every day, while according to the World Health Organisation, “More than 300 million acute malaria infections occur in Africa yearly, leading to death of at least 1 million people every year.”
Those affected are the poor who cannot afford a mosquito net, talk less of insecticide. But still, African leaders are busy acquiring wealth without addressing issues paramount to their citizens.
We thank God today for the Universal Basic Education that has a compulsory free education for every Nigerian child of the first nine years of school life. The irony of this is that, the programme has not taken off in most states of Nigeria. This has made the programme of no effect because it has not really addressed the educational needs of the target. This is often dooming children to a life of perpetual poverty, especially in the rural and sub-urban areas.
Instead of bracing up to the challenges, poor parents are now sending their wards to urban centres to stay with people, with promises of sending them to school. Most of them are ending up being house helps without even seeing the four walls of school.
The sad aspect is that, people now attach more importance to material possession than to relationship, thus placing too much emphasis on ‘having’ and too little on ‘being.’ They measure a person’s worth and importance according to his/her job, salary or possession, rather than his/her knowledge, wisdom, abilities and positive characteristics.
Knowing fully well that hundreds of millions of people worldwide are still trying to survive each day in spite of this continuing poverty, it is clear that good legislation alone cannot solve this.
But sincerity, fair play, equity and justice on the part of the privileged political and economic class will go a long way in changing the cause of the poor.
Also, the need to address our political spending on white-elephant projects and the duplication of ministries should be re-addressed, and instead face the issue of unemployment squarely.
Not until we see our privileges as means of helping the under-privileged, the divide will continue to widen and the issue of bridging becomes inconsequential. The poor should however be consoled that wealth does not always make happy.
Fortunately, this rising inequality can be reversed, Byanyima said, saying, “These trends are reversible. African countries must crack down on corporate tax dodgers and invest far more in free healthcare and education and in industries that can create more and decent jobs.
“One of the simplest things that governments can do to help diffuse the inequality time-bomb is to invest more in public services. Public services redistribute by putting virtual income into everyone’s pockets.”
The case of Latin America gives us hope that the global trend of rising inequality can be reversed. Brazil has had significant success in reducing inequality, through spending on public health and education, wide-scale cash transfers, and a surge in the minimum wage. These also Nigeria can do, and I am sure will get same result.
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