Reported by
Abdullahi Adam Muhammad
Africa-Press – Nigeria. The giant of Africa, that is the epithet which Nigeria has been earning long before in the first flush of her growing when she was coining it. Now she is dropping the championship in the battle field of the modern economy.
What is a poverty, and who is a poor man? These dual questions whose real meaning is so far unknown by many Nigerian citizens even by those who are testing the bitterness of the object poverty day and night.
Encyclopedia Britannica defines the poverty as: “The state of one who lacks a usual of socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” The United Nations put poor men thus: “The percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day”. So Where does the poverty exist? “Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Nigeria as the biggest country which has the largest population in Africa with over 180 million people, believe it or not, most of the population are living below $1.90 a day, lacking the usual of socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. This will definitely constitute them to be answering the title, ‘poor’.
But for Nigerian government, poverty is there when the foreign reserve is below the need and expectation of the politicians during the annual budget or when there is a decrease of money to be spent as government expenditure. Then the term ‘recession’ is going to be blown into everybody’s ear.
In an interview with National Television Authority NTA, Nigerian president, Muhamadu Buhari has boldly claimed that his administration has succeeded in freeing 10 million Nigerians from the captivity of poverty. No sooner did the president said it, than the World Bank released a statement in which the bank exposed that there are additional 7 million Nigerians who have been trapped in poverty again, calling for immediate action against the inflation that increases every day in the country.
Causes of Poverty
The inflation is reaching the alarming rate as Nigerian currency, Naira, is constantly facing the excessive devaluation by the Central Bank of Nigeria while marketing deregulation is being implemented and capitalist economy is allowed to freely be executed.
On the other hand, accusations are deployed on the state governors for repressing over 700 local governments of Nigeria by thwarting them from consuming their national monthly allocation with which they used to solve the problems with the rural dwellers who are mostly poor men before the state governors started manipulating the law.
To some analysts, the World Bank itself would never be exonerated. “it is apparent that the World Bank is also implicated in the issue of poverty in Nigeria because whenever Nigerian authorities go there to collect any debt, they put on them conditions among which the devaluation of Naira. That is the biggest source of the poverty in Nigeria. It is a challenge, at least. Let me say that the World Bank and Nigerian Government are two sides of the same coin.” Dr. Hassan Muhammd, a lecturer and analyst, said in an interview with “Africa Press”.
What then will be the solution?
“… Nigeria should stop collecting any debt from these International Monetary Funds. Their idea is to be exploiting the Africans. They will never do anything in our favor or for the development of our economy. Our industries should be empowered to increase the local production. Provide them with enough nationwide electricity, reduce the level of tax and duties to see how the economy will be growing in no time.”
Africa press wanted to know if this action will help the poor men in the rural areas. Dr. Muhammd said, “Let the government provide the rural area dwellers with the modern equipment and the fertilizer to establish the mechanized farming. The economy of the citizens will rise instantly as more people will be employed and rest others will become self-employed and the national GDP will rapidly increase, at the same time, we will be exporting goods. You see unfortunately the country depends exclusively on the oil.”
Dr. Hasan called for the extermination of corruption, “Whatever we do will not bring the success as corruption is our biggest problem. Until corruption is eradicated I’m telling you no advancement will be achieved in this country and whatever we find will go into the pockets of elites. Do you know the amount we spend on the security? Billions of Naira is spent every week so as to tackle the insecurity, but you don’t see anything tangible. Corruption is the only problem with us in Nigeria.”
