The pathway to poverty decimation

It was a cheering news when the President, Mohammadu Buhari said during his opening speech in the inaugural June 12 Democracy day celebration in Abuja that, ‘’ with leadership and a sense of purpose, we can lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.’’ In other words, 10 millions of Nigerians will be […]

It was a cheering news when the President, Mohammadu Buhari said during his opening speech in the inaugural June 12 Democracy day celebration in Abuja that, ‘’ with leadership and a sense of purpose, we can lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.’’

In other words, 10 millions of Nigerians will be uplifted from deep abyss of poverty every year.  The Crane is finally here to lift Nigerians out of Poverty.

Hardly had the president echoed these words, than the downtrodden shouted halleluiah, some people at the bar exchanged relieved glances but the cynics looked at each other with a sort of faded enthusiasm busied themselves with their glasses.

To the ordinary man in the street poverty is in stratum?

To some people it is the inability to pay school fees for their kids or eat three square meals, to other people it is inability to send their children to study abroad.

To some people it is walking barefooted in the scorching sun; to other people it is shuffling in leaky shoes and pockmarked sleepers.

To some individuals it is having second hand socks and underwear, to other citizens it is having socks or underclothes that were full of holes and you see toes sticking out like porcupine feet.

To some inhabitants it is having a battered and rickety couch, while to other people it is having a sitting-room floor decorated by cow dung.

To some residents it is having a lavatory where odor billowed through to the veranda uninvited; to other people it is not having the Jacuzzi water system.

To most people, they are used to entrails contracting as if they are fighting a war; to other citizens it is not having adequate two square meals.

In some home rats leaped up and down while roaches squealed in delight. In other homes, bugs not only burrowed into slattern mattress but snipped into the kid’s skin.

To some people, they gate-crashed and wolfed a ration served in a party like a damned soul gasped his last morsel of pleasure. To other individuals eking out a portion of meal a day is just okay.

Some homes are using cooker to cook while at other homes they are still use to hob- between-fenders in the digital age. Poverty!

There is nothing as bad as not knowing where and when the next meal will come from, as the sun goes to sleep, where to lay head and rest becomes a big headache-that is extreme poverty for me.

The question is, are we blessed as a country? Why are we not tapping our potential to its full capacity? Yes, we have more than enough to be one of the greatest nations in the world but it is unfortunate that Nigeria has emerged from being the focus of ‘’war on terror’’ and ‘’Poverty.’’

To reduce poverty Nigerians must focus on strengthening agriculture, invest in human development, manage and mitigate risks that increase poor people’s vulnerability.

Our leaders must continue to work together in new ways, including more public –private –citizen’s partnership to ramp up investment needed to eradicate poverty in all its forms.

It is hope that our leaders will not rest until injustice and inequality are wrestled from the grabbers, only then can the Crane lift us permanently out of the cliff.

Olusanya Anjorin  [email protected]