Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha
8 November 2009
opinion
Lagos — Poverty is the non-availability of basic needs of life. It is the inadequacy of the means to satisfy the basic necessities of healthy living. This involves food, housing, clothing, health, education etc. people who are no longer involved in economic activities are also in the poverty bracket. Also people with low educational qualification are likely to be grouped in the poverty bracket.
This is because since they are unskilled they are usually involved with menial works such as labourers, messengers, gardeners, road sweepers etc. Again there is poverty occasioned by residing in the rural areas. The rural area is an area geographically characterized by a high level of illiteracy, and of course low quality health services.
Powerty has two namely
Real Poverty: This has to do with a citizen whose income and consumption expenditure is so small that he is unable to meet his obligations via house, food, clothing, health. Conversely the individual therefore lives below the poverty level.
Apparent Poverty: This refers to the degree of inequality of income among the same group of people.
Poverty at times is caused by the individual. Any person who lacks knowledge, creativity, vision, initiative etc is poor. Afterall, it is written in the holy book (the Bible) that "my people suffer because of lack of knowledge". Conversely, anyone who waste his time playing cards, smoking Indian hemp, jumping from one hotel to the other "enjoying" himself may end up being poor because the time he would have used to invest in creativity, he used on worldly pleasures".
Therefore, the inability to invest in the kind of human capital that will pay off in the long run is what makes a person poor. Nonetheless, poverty may not be caused by the individual. It can come through government policies which affect the people. The economic, social, political and cultural policies of the present government in Imo State has made over 85% Imo citizens poor. Therefore, it can be called poverty by government making. When there is no conducive environment to do business, people become poor. When properties belonging to the people are destroyed, poverty sets in. Poverty arrives in any society whose leaders and governments fail to provide the basic infrastructure of life. Conversely, it is these variables that determine the position of an individual in the allocation and total distribution of scarce resources. Therefore, any individual that is favoured by government policies cannot be poor. I hereby argue that poverty exists because there is great inequality in money and opportunities occasioned by social, economic, political and cultural environments.
To find out why there is so much poverty in Imo State despite huge resources via Federal allocations, internally generated revenue, ecological funds, informal revenue in form of deductions, we have to look at the following variables.
Our per capita income is low greatly because human and land resources of this State have remained under utilized.
Population of Imo State is roughly 4.5 million people. This has greatly contributed to the poverty of the people. While the population of Imo state is increasing in a "geometric progression" our income in this State is increasing in an arithmetic progression.
Poverty is a native of Imo State today because our people do not like agriculture. We like "yahoo-yahoo business" which generally is not a good form of economic activity. Even those involved in agriculture do not use modern farming equipment.
Distribution of economic, social and political wealth in Imo State is one sided. While the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer.
Poverty can sneak in when one is poor in health.
Children who are orphans may end up being poor because they lack parental upbringing and there may be no one to give them "magnitude and direction", thereby making them to end up as SCALAR quantities, instead of VECTOR quantities.
Discrimination has a hand in the poverty situation in Imo State . Some employers of labour refuse to recruit qualified people whose marginal product may surpass his income partly due to political inclination, zoning formula, and partly due to victimization and indigenization policies of government.
Honestly, poverty breeds misery, anger and confusion. This is so because the poor in our society are always harassed mostly by the government that is supposed to protect them. If illegal structures are being removed today it is the poor that suffer the harm. Illegal structures belonging to the rich are never touched. The poor are prone to arrest than the rich in our society. If the rich criticizes the poor, nothing happens. But when a poor fellow criticizes the government, the powers that be charges him with "defamation" and "sedition". The poor in our society suffer from greater injustice than other members of the society.
The most unwanted effect of poverty is social degradation. Poverty makes one to be unwanted in the society. The poor in our society stay longer in detention cells but not so for the rich and "connected" in our society. People who are poor lack respect and identity. How do we eradicate poverty in Imo State ? It is simple and easy to eradicate poverty in Imo State if only the State government can listen to the advice of Geniuses. A genius is one who has great ability for mental creativity and vision.
There should be population control to reduce the number of open mouths that are available for feeding.
Families living below poverty level should be given an income supplement to bring them above poverty line.
The State Government should improve services that are essential to human development. These include housing, medical services, education, recreational services, industrial development etc.
Economic development will generate enough employment opportunities in the State.
Creation of enabling environment so that our industries can thrive.
Genuine massive road construction will push poverty our of existence.
The power sector should be " energized" in such a way that our industries will have no need to "look" for diesel to power their generating plants. This will make industrial products to be cheaper in the market after production.
In conclusion, poverty is a cancer that must be removed through the implementations of genuine people oriented policies. The time to do so is now.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
