Poverty generators and the challenge of microfinance (4): Unemployment and vanishing middle class

Still in the conviction that our poverty reduction strategies will be better able to serve our needs and be more effective if we understand what is fuelling the scourge, we continue to name and if possible shame those institutions and phenomena, which we believe promote poverty and must change if we are to make progress with the fight against poverty. Our first culprit, identified last week, was the form of government – the presidential system – run as a winner-takes-all enterprise in Nigeria. We noted that the cost and unaccountable nature of that system sucks resources away from the people to a few mostly incompetent and unpatriotic self-seeking persons. By the political system we include all arms of government and the presidential system itself. With a judicial system that is anything but alert to protect the rights of citizens, the routing of the people by those who win political power is complete. This is more so in an environment where the legislature is weakened and dogged by credibility gaps evidenced by shameful carpet crossings and constituency projects, lack of transparency and evident self-interest of members. The result is the perpetuation of inequity, inequality and intense pressure on the middle class.
The current political system, structure and process, which focus on the sharing of national wealth, without as much as an inkling of the idea of expanding the wealth, is a national disaster. A system that guarantees the security of criminals rather than that of its citizens; a system that has taken over 40 years to contemplate economic diversification without as much as laying the first foundation stone for it; a system that awards national prestige to those who steal the most state resources and has no place for research, innovation and the intellect, is bound to produce the present chaos – tons of money in multiple currencies found in private homes and no convictions; failure of appointed and elected officials to deliver on the job but assured of the job security and re-election; fugitives running to the source of power as insurance against justice.
The failure of the current system of governance, traceable to the presidential system of government and the structure of the federation, has begun to tilt us towards the unthinkable, a feeling of safety only among our clan. The freedom to loot and be honoured has led politicians to promise us hell if they are not elected allowed to stay in office. The juice is so sweet that many are prepared to burn down their states if their sons and daughters are not allowed to continue from where they stopped in sucking the people’s resources. As of now, only very few people endowed with the spirit of work still work in Nigeria. Most public officials are looking for what to take, from anywhere, because justice is long dead and any bit of it alive has a price in the market. This is what happens when you give signal that justice is variable. Any system that cannot guarantee justice has guaranteed poverty as the powerful exclude the weak.
Today, the most important thing to some of us, especially the younger generation, is a share of political office. That shows the direction of our emphasis – access to the national till. We are all aware, self-interest and pretences apart, that the problem with Nigeria is not the age of it leaders, granted that the younger the leader, the more effective, but its political structure. The structure promotes incompetence and entitlement mentality rather than competition and innovation. It kills the spirit of patriotism and advances the tendency to tribe and clan. Surely, such a system could be hijacked by bigots and will not be healed only by the transfer of political power on the basis of age.Besides. A nation whose young people, who ought to be busy churning out inventions in STEM, obsess themselves with the thought of how to get into the murky corruption brigade of stealing and deceit calledNigerian politics has more coming. Whether the leader is young or old, Nigeria will not go far with its present expensive governance system that has no pace for merit but over rewards the cheat. The animal that bit the elders is still alive and will happily swallow the youths.
Today, as we return to name the agents of poverty in Nigeria, we identify unemployment, arising from thecontracting labour market, manifesting in high and rising levels of family distress,as another major contributor to the poverty in Nigeria and the hardship of its people. Although high unemployment is a derivative of the failure of leadership, we single it out for emphasis. Unemployment is the absence of rewarding income earningengagement for labour.The nation is currently facing an unprecedented rise in drug abuse and deviant behaviour among the youth. Some people think there is something innate in these young people pushing them into these negative activities. The blame has been going round from poor parenting, the favourite fall guy, to unpatriotic behaviour of traders, who sell illicit substances. The truth is that these are at best, accessories or contributors to the malaise. The real culprit is frustration, bred by idleness and a feeling of failure. We may be investing but it our investment is below the critical mass that would jolt the economy through massive job creation.
The key challenge in many families today is how to save their youngsters, who have worked hard to earn university degrees, from falling into depression. Some families have just created their first graduates. They sold land and other resources to pay the fees and now the state is not even doing anything. Government intention may be good but failure to convert it to tangible preoccupation for the youth is a disappointment.
Our inability to revive the middle class is hurting all classes. Despite this, small companies formed and run by the middle class have recently come under fire from the internal revenue agencies of both state and federal governments. Instead of finding creative win-win strategies to raise taxes, and get enhanced compliance (knowing what happens to tax revenue in countries with unaccountable leadership) governments are going about sealing every imaginable small company for tax default. This increases the pressure on the middle class while worsening the unemployment problem.

Emeka Osuji