Lets reduce poverty in Nigeria

It is a fact that the 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’s living standard can improve once the routes to achieving basic living conditions […]

It is a fact that the 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’s living standard can improve once the routes to achieving basic living conditions are smoothened. Who should create these conditions? The three tiers of government. How? By imbibing the political will that propels new thinking within the leadership as well as bringing 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. For the 50 years of Nigeria’s existence, various governments have put in place poverty eradication programmes and policies. Yet, the average Nigerian is worse off. The National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), the primary agency of government charged with the responsibility of coordinating and monitoring all poverty eradication activities has designed many programmes and policies meant to reduce poverty. One of these is The Village Economic Development Solutions Programme, a community based programme aimed at encouraging mass participation in the economic development process through the establishment of economic activities at the grassroots. One such activity is helping peasant farmers find markets for their farm produce. This is a good initiative, but not enough to eradicate poverty, because, subsistence farming and low income manual jobs cannot remarkably improve a country’s GDP. A country’s level of poverty depends greatly on its level of population density and agricultural productivity. Bangladesh, for example, is one of the world’s densely populated countries with 1,078 persons per sq km. A large majority of the people of Bangladesh engage in manual farming, which contributes little to the country’s wealth therefore the country’s extremely high level of poverty. However, some of the smaller countries in Western Europe, such as The Netherlands and Belgium, have high population densities as well. But these countries practice mechanized farming and are involved in both high-technology and small industrialization; they therefore have high standards of living.

If we claim that such initiative by NAPEP cannot eradicate the abject poverty in Nigeria, then what needs to be done? Eradicating poverty can be done through embracing holistic and reductionistic approaches to development. This is the time Nigeria needs both approaches– approaches that will tackle poverty by uplifting individuals and at the same time develop structures on ground. For example, in recent decades, some nations have become fairly wealthy by developing their economies with small scale industries, simple technologies and more importantly, by creating employment opportunities for their citizens through education, training and reliable micro-finance systems. Nigeria can imitate such ideas.

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 and thus the goals of vision 20:2020 can be achieved easily. We must acknowledge that even in developed countries, unemployment rates may be high and availability of employment also tends to fluctuate, creating periods of high joblessness. Nigeria being a country with high population, an unemployment level of only a few percentage means that millions within the working-age will be unemployed and unable to earn an adequate income. This should be an issue of great concern to the political leaders and managers of Nigeria’s economy.

Nigeria can create productive employment for its millions of unemployed citizens and those engaged in low income manual jobs through various means. The country has artisans such as shoemakers, fashion designers, carpenters, goldsmiths, woodcrafters, welders and technicians, etc. who have the skills but lack the resources to setup productive and sustainable businesses. Offering assistance to such group of people, by bringing them together as business partners, will have huge impact on the country’s economy. For example, Turkey, Morocco and Iran are enjoying huge foreign exchange from handmade carpets made by small firms owned by individuals living in urban, semi urban and rural areas of these countries.

Equally, there are thousands of graduates in Nigeria who never dream of a pay-job either from the government or private sector, but their zeal is to be entrepreneurs. Government can assist such groups of young people. The CBN’s N500bn intervention fund designed to boost the operational capacities in the manufacturing industry, small and medium scale enterprises, the power sectors as well as the recently announced Creative Industry Fund by President Goodluck Jonathan are good steps toward the empowerment of the citizens. The accessibility of such funds should be flexible and part of it should be used in developing many sectors including the movie, music, I.T. sport, advertising, farming and technical-development industries. For instance, there are hundreds of illegal miners in Nigeria; government can organize the people who engage in such activities into smaller organized firms. This will create legitimate wealth and employment, in addition to increasing revenue for the government.

We shouldn’t forget the fact that it is a little difficult to determine the poverty level of Nigerians due to many factors including lack of reliable data and statistics; however, there is a general agreement among Nigerians that the hallmark of absolute poverty in the country is the high level of unemployment. If the level of unemployment can be reduced by half, Nigeria’s vision 20:2020 will be achieved. This thought should be close to the hearts of Nigerian leaders. They should start thinking of the people on the streets, because it is time to reduce poverty in Nigeria.

Muhammad wrote from Jimeta, Adamawa State, [email protected]