Dealing with poverty in Nigeria

Government must, at all times, focus on the welfare of the people

Despite being rated as the biggest economy in Africa, Nigeria still ranks among the poorest nations in the world, essentially because the much-touted economic growth has not generated sufficient employment nor has it addressed the growing gap between the rich and the poor. That was the damning verdict of a recent report by the Inter-governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa.

  What makes the report even more worrisome is that the prospects of turning around

the situation looks bleak against the background of falling oil prices and cascading value of the naira. Yet the report states very clearly that the dependence on oil has been a burden due to poor governance in the sector, where despite being the 10th largest oil producer in the world, Nigeria imports about 85 per cent of its refined petroleum products.

  According to the report, revenues from oil have stifled innovation and continue to limit accountability in the country. While states and local governments seek oil-rents and jeopardise internally- generated revenue, successive national governments have also not adequately used oil revenue to lift the ordinary Nigerian out of poverty. Rather, and in addition to rent-seeking, these revenues have served as slush funds and continue to enrich a few corporations and individuals over the masses.

  The report should worry those in authority in Nigeria as it has become more evident that all the much-touted impressive economic growth of the last couple of years have not translated into good life for a majority of the people. On the contrary, Nigerians continue to be ranked among the poorest people in the world and this paradox can be linked to the growing inequality between the rich and the poor.

Some of the factors responsible for this state of affair include high incidence of unemployment, predominant production of primary goods over finished products, aging public infrastructure, increasing insurgency and opaque systems of governance. The high rate of out-of-school children and poor output in the education sector also contribute negatively to deepening this inequality as the nation churns out a crop of uncompetitive youth in a world driven by technology.

  The challenge is even bigger. Many of the rural communities in the country today are not connected to the national grid and as such, do not have any electricity. Some do not have access to potable water and many lack critical infrastructure for storage and transportation of raw materials from their places of production to markets. Farmers are at the mercy of middlemen who exploit them and make significant profits on resale of the same goods in other geographies.

  The foregoing are few of the challenges that have to be addressed to lift our people out of poverty but it is not what the government alone can do.  It is our hope that President Muhammadu Buhari will not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor who granted questionable waivers to only few persons while the current regime of subsidies that do not impact on the poor is unsustainable. Government, at all levels, must focus on the people, their safety and welfare; the optimal allocation of scarce resources and the effective implementation of policies for service delivery. We must as citizens demand equity, fairness and accountability lest this deepening cycle of poverty continues. Until we begin to do all this, Nigerians will find it difficult to maximise their potential in the bid to enjoy better lives.

All said, we hope the federal government and the authorities in the 36 states of the federation will see the report of the growing poverty in Nigeria as another wake-up call for a nation blessed with enormous natural and human resources, but which has consistently been held down by poor leadership