Policy inconsistency, nepotism, inefficiency, waste, mismanagement, corruption, on the part of the leaders, have helped in creating poverty in Nigeria. Instead of the creating jobs, the Nigerian government is only creating unemployment and poverty. Eamon de Valera (1882 –1975) was right when he said that “We cannot afford idleness, waste or inefficiency”, we can’t just afford these vices, if we must move ahead as a country. But, who’s surprised about Nigeria? A country that wasted over $600bn revenue in five decades can’t help its citizens. Think about what that amount could have done in uplifting a large chunk of the population, if it has been well invested. The former Vice President of the World Bank, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, told Nigerians few days ago, about the wasted amount, when she added that poor governance especially the culture of corruption was largely responsible for Nigeria’s stunted growth when compared to its peers across the world. She explained that several countries rated along with Nigeria in the1960s have made greater progress in transforming from a country into a nation because the elite made a conscious effort to develop them. Ezekwesili gave concerned Nigerians goose bumps, when she noted “that the cost of rebuilding Europe after World War II was put at $148bn in today’s value but that this is less than half of the funds that were attributed to have been stolen from Nigeria since independence. The expense of such funds transformed the manufacturing, service industry and competitive factors of Europe. It cost $2bn ($349bn in today’s value) to rebuild Japan after the nuclear attack. By conservative estimate, our country has earned more than$600 billion in the last five decades and yet can only boast of a United Nations Human Development Index score of 0.4 out of 1 proximate to that of Chad and maternal mortality rate similar to that of Afghanistan. Nothing reveals the depth of our failures than such performance indicators considering the vastly greater possibilities that we have been bestowed.” George Soros (1930) rightly noted that “Most of the poverty and misery in the world is due to bad government, lack of democracy, weak states, internal strife, and so on”. Concurring with the Forbes Report that says that although the Nigeria is one of the worlds biggest oil exporters, most Nigerians live in poverty, especially in the rural areas, Zayyad I. Muhammad made his own points, when he wrote that the average Nigerian is a poor man. Indeed, Nigeria is a country of riches and poverty- splendid wealth in few hands and extreme abject poverty at most people’s doorsteps. The problem of poverty is colossal and pervasive in the country and it has many causes. The number of people living in poverty has increased due to rising disparities in the distribution of resources in the country. However, the basic cause of poverty in Nigeria is the absence of an enabling environment that will free the people from the prison of poverty; uplift their living standard and provide ways to assist them turn their dreams into reality. It is a fact that primary factors that lead to poverty, such as overpopulation, unequal distribution of resources, lack of basic education, absence of employment opportunities, as well as environmental degradation are quite intractable and not easily eradicated, but the average Nigerian can leapfrog the ladder of prosperity; once the routes to achieving basic living standards are smoothened. Who should create these conditions? - The government at all the three levels. How? By imbibing the political will that propels new thinking within the political class as well as brings sustained all-inclusive economic growth. In most cases, government actions and inaction create a good number of the causes of poverty. Therefore, the government that contributed in making people poor must also create conditions that will bring opportunities for prosperity. The hallmark of poverty in Nigeria is the high level of unemployment. If Nigeria can tackle the high rate of unemployment in the country; then one of the most important ways to smoothen the path for prosperity in the land has been found.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 01:40:25 +0000
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