NIGERIANS AND POVERTY

I saw comments on a global index that ranked Nigeria as the country with the highest poverty level in the world. There are over 190 countries, and we rank first. We rank ahead of countries torn apart by conflict, we rank ahead of far more populous countries. I tried to look up the original report, but I couldn’t find it.

Nonetheless, I digested the statistics that my country leads in poverty.

They say statistics is shit. Let me illustrate how shitty statistics can be. According to statistics, 1 in 5 people on earth are Chinese. But you look all around you, you see hundreds of people, but none is Chinese. How is that? Regardless, this does not make a nonsense of Statistics. It does not mean that its numbers are false.

From this light, it would not make much sense to a successful Lagosian wey em pepper don rest that he is lumped into the population of the country worst hit by poverty. That just doesn’t make any sense. He works and lives in the Island, and probably does not see or feel any shred of poverty, yet somehow, he is classified into the people worst affected by it.
Well, like I said, they say Statistics is shit.
One of our biggest problem, and I believe it’s one of the causes that landed us on the top rank of poor Nations is that we pursue individual progress at the detriment of collective success. If I can set-up my own business, provide own electricity, water, transport, afford private education and quality healthcare, its needless bothering about how to improve that for the community and others.  So we work hard and thrive on this mentality; to achieve prosperity with no care if others achieve the same or make any progress. But at the end of the mile, our success is diffused by the failures around us, as our prosperity is not judged by our records alone.

That leads us to another shitty thing about statistics; it weighs on the average.  Lagos may be a budding hub while Borno a desolate place, but when statistics is being calculated, their thrive and strive is collapsed. Sadly, the poverty of the poor areas dim the success of the successful areas.

A car headlamp can only shine bright enough and illuminate the path for the driver. It does not take away the fact that the surrounding paths are still dark. Neither does it create an illusion that there is light. We should look at achieving progress and eradicating poverty this way too.  We have to think and act collective. Create opportunities for ourselves and others.

Even in his 943 million naira Banana Island mansion, poverty exists all around the Lagos tycoon. The security man he pays 20,000 naira per month, the Gardner he pays 16,000 naira p.m and the Chef he pays 22,000 naira p.m. These people more likely than not have dependents who live off this pantry sum. When they economist do the math, you would see they meet the <1 dollar per day poverty criteria. Of course the Oga is rich. What does he know. What does he care.

High poverty level is worrisome. Or it should, because poverty comes along with many effects; hunger and starvation, lack of access to quality health care, education, opportunities, high crime rate and a host of other social, economic, environmental, health problems, etc. All these are glaring and undeniable in our Nigerian society.

Eradicating poverty is so important that it made the list of 8 Millennium Development Goals. Infact, it is so important that it is seated as the very first on the list. As the leading country in poverty, it’s needless to say that our poverty is of the extreme kind and it requires extreme measures to eradicate. But as a Nation, how are we working towards eradicating poverty that has eaten us from inside out. Given our vast human capital, vast land mass, good temperature, plug to the internet, it’s a shame that we (still)are where we are today.

Corruption, mismanagement( both in the system and in our individual lives)illiteracy, lack of education, conflict and crisis, all have in no little measure left us in the rut. It is important we explore every means necessary to make progress.  We must consider that an imperative.