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 AFRICA FRESH! New Voices from the First Continent
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G21 AFRICA - THE FACES OF POVERTY: The Nigerian census gives NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI time to reflect on the economic conditions in her country that too many take for granted.
Jos, NIGERIA - Nigeria has just concluded its first census in fifteen years with a nationwide restriction on movement. Being cooped in for a week definitely has its advantages, one of which is being able to catch up on my writing. Another is being able to sit back and reflect on life, something I rarely consciously do, what with dealing with life's worries and anxieties.
Ngozi Razak-Soyebi As we await the results of the census, I recognize, like so many Nigerians, that there is one thing the outcome of the census will not do and that is better the lot of the average Nigerian. We do not need the results of the census to tell us how many of our people are unemployed or living below the poverty line; anyone can see the growing numbers simply by taking a good look around.
Unfortunately, not so many people do. Perhaps I have been guilty of that. Subconsciously, I am aware that there is a lot of poverty around me but I have, again like so many Nigerians, become so "immune" to it that I often think nothing of walking past a leprous beggar on the street and tossing him a coin or weaving my way p ast the ever-increasing number of the mentally ill on our streets. I liken this attitude to a non-smoker being in a room filled with smokers. Sooner or later, the fumes don't bother you anymore. It certainly doesn't make smoking right and neither does it this conscientless attitude.
I credit the young official who walked into our home to make us a part of the lucky few counted with re-awakening my consciousness. I have been known to strike up conversation with most people within minutes of meeting them. Call it my strength or my nosy nature. I asked this young man a few questions of my own as he very diligently took a count of our household. I learned that he was an unemployed graduate who had queued for weeks in the hot sun before he was selected for the "job." I also learned that he would be paid a mere five thousand naira (about thirty dollars) for the job, which includes walking from house to house across a wide territory and with no additional provisions for transportation to and from his home.
Soon after this young man left, after declining my offer of a glass of water (it was a very hot day), I realized that the five thousand naira he was toiling so hard for is what I spend on my daughter's diapers in ten days. This young man made me realize how very fortunate I have been all my life. True, I do not belong to the affluent class (yet), but I have never for one day worried over where my next meal would come from. With astute investments made while still doing a regular job, I count myself as one of the few young Nigerian writers able to pursue their dreams full-time.
Poverty, like crime and malaria, has become a way of life for most Nigerians. We can fight crime with high electronic fences, iron doors and windows and fight malaria with a combination of drugs, but it appears as though there is little we can do to fight poverty. A friend once put it this way; the harder we work the poorer we become. A bleak way of life, but ever so true.
In 1960, before our over-glorified independence, only 15 per cent of Nigerians were considered poor. Today, according to a World Bank Report, around 70 per cent of Nigeria's estimated 120 million population live below the poverty line of one US dollar per day.
The human development report 2004 of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Nigeria 151st among 177 countries. We were ranked in the category of "low human development." According to the country representative of the UN agency in Nigeria, Dr. Tegegenework Gettu, some individuals in the country were heavily rich, but the country's wealth did not penetrate to the majority of the people.
In a seperate report, the UNDP also grouped Nigeria among fifty nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America whose poverty level is "near extreme."
Various UNDP reports have consistently described efforts by the Federal Government to address the poverty scourge as "very poor and lacking in accountability and equity." With good reasons, too. Only six years ago, the N10 billion voted by the federal government for the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) ended up in the pockets of corrupt individuals and did nothing to alleviate the sufferings of the masses it was meant for. It is equally puzzling that the N390 trillion realized from oil in the last two decades hasn't made any impact on the lives of the ordinary citizen. Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil exporter, yet, according to the CIA World factbook of December 2003, 60 per cent of our population live below the poverty line.
Nigerians are growing increasingly tired of acronymns coined by the Federal Government (SAP, PAP etc) meant to alleviate suffering but secretly enriching the pockets of a few individuals.
I have always believed that a nation without consciousness is a nation lost. The time to bridge the growing divide is now. The time to act is NOW.
© 2006, GENERATOR 21.
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