Nigeria: Poverty Amid Abundance

[Richard Akindele]

Acho Orabuchi
Lagos

Nigeria is a country full of astonishing contrasts in the midst of its enormous natural and human resources. Besides oil and natural gas, the country is "richly endowed with a variety of solid minerals of various categories ranging from precious metals to various stones and also industrial minerals such as barytes, gypsum, kaolin and marble," unlike other countries.

Nigeria is equally endowed with tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood, hides and skins, and materials for textile and cement. Without a doubt, Nigeria is truly endowed with abundant natural and human resources.


Yet poverty ravages the country. According to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Nigeria is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. "Over 70 per cent of the population is classified as poor, with 35 per cent living in absolute poverty." The number seems to be winching!

In a somber acknowledgement of the ravaging presence and effects of poverty in Nigeria, these and other headlines abound: 'UNICEF Condemns Poor Welfare of Nigerian Children', published in THISDAY on December 26, 2006; 'UN asks Nigeria to tackle urban poverty', published in Guardian on December 12, 2006; 'Nnamani pledges to execute UN goals for health sector', published in Guardian on October27, 2006; 'Udenwa bemoans poverty in Nigeria', published in Vanguard on November 29, 2006; 'Nigeria: The Poverty Trap', published in Daily Champion on December 4, 2006; 'Of Democracy, Poverty And Hunger', published in Daily Independent on December 11, 2006; 'AC'll wipe out poverty', published in Punch on December 11, 2006; and much more.

Also in October, our President, Olusegun Obasanjo acknowledged staid nature of poverty in our country when he defined it in his speech at the 2006 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) occasion in Abuja as: lack of healthcare, lack of shelter, lack of education, lack of capital, lack of control over natural resources, lack of public safety, hunger. He added in his definition the following: no political representation, no freedom, poor environmental conditions, civil conflict, corruption, violence and insecurity, no asset, no job, no money, unclean water, poor sanitation, powerlessness. President Obasanjo has been committed and working assiduously to relieving the masses of economic hardship. Without a scruple, the government has tried to tackle the issue of poverty in various ways.

In a statement of Lennart BÃ¥ge, President of IFAD, at launch of the Nigeria Rural Development Strategy in Abuja on December 11, 2001, said of President Obasanjo, "Since your election as President of Nigeria, your Government has taken bold steps to strengthen your country's economy, social development and political stability. Your own personal involvement with development issues, your commitment to democracy and your emphasis on strengthening governance provide a new dynamic to Nigeria's future, and remind us of the great role that Nigeria could play in leading a renaissance in Africa. The central part you have played in the formulation of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) underlines the importance not only of your country, but the hopes that rest on you personally."

Grim reality reveals that despite the government's well-intended poverty eradication programs under National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) and other agencies, a large majority of people continue to live in abject squalor while a handful seem to revel and inebriated in wealth. The phenomenon leaves one to conclude that the contraption for poverty alleviation needs immediate retooling.

As I was writing this piece, I saw a headline in Punch on December 29, 2006, that read, 'Buhari vows to change living conditions of Nigerians'. In the past, I have read similar promises made by career politicians. I wonder where all these politicians were all along. Poverty in Nigeria did not start yesterday; it was there when Buhari was the leader of the country. Nigeria is labeled as one of the poorest countries in the world. We often forget that once labeled, it's much too difficult to erase such a label, especially when the country seems to validate the label through its actions or inactions.

Indeed, poverty in Nigeria has been an intractable problem in which its effects on the faces of the people could be ineffable. It would be lugubrious for the politicians to politicize a baleful and perennial issue like poverty. Poverty has human faces written all over it. It's rather callous to pervert the gravity of poverty in Nigeria by politicizing it.

While it appears that 90% of the wealth of the country is controlled by 5% of the population, mostly politicians, who bathe in and profligate wealth, the vast majority of the masses seethe in poverty. Most of the improvident wealth is not reinvested in the Nigerian economy thereby making matters worse. As a result, one of the factors the government needs to address in fighting against poverty is the inequality in the distribution of wealth.

Nevertheless, the presence of abundant natural and human resources in Nigeria is not in question. Also not in question is the knowledge of the ravaging effects of poverty in the country. What's in question, however, is if the policymakers realize that the programs designed to reduce poverty have little or no effects on the poor. A more productive result could be achieved if synergistic approach was adopted. To make a dent on poverty, local, state, and federal agencies should work in tandem to address all poverty-related issues.

In fact, it requires synergy and not disjointed contraption to genuinely wage war on poverty.

Daily Champion.