Poverty in Nigeria and the Brookings Institution
Q: And I think it is preposterous for Nigerian leaders to be mad on hearing that our socio-economic conditions have gone down so much so that we could host the largest number of the abjectly poor in the world. It means they don’t get the message
Of late I have been writing on how difficult life must have become for microfinance institutions in some parts of Nigeria, especially the war-ravaged areas of the north-east. I had wanted to shift my focus to some protective measures that operators may need to adopt as they continue to support the active poor in such areas. However, that is not to be, at least for this week because while I was researching the subject matter, the issue of Nigeria becoming the headquarters of poverty exploded. The usual angry comments that characterize such reports began to fly in the media towards the Brookings Institution for stating the outcome of their research, an outcome, by the way, that is not so hard to validate or disprove with facts. I therefore decided to say a few words on that new position, into which according to the Brookings Institution, Nigeria was recently promoted – headquarters of world poverty.
Nigeria is a country of incongruences, contrasts and perplexities. It is only in Nigeria you find people fighting people who give them advice. In the area I come from, they say that sensible people do not respond to advice beyond a word of appreciation to the giver. That may sound like an age-old or piece of wisdom but I think some of its values still remain, and may never be completely wiped out by modernity and the effects of a changing world. I believe in the value of a second opinion and it may be wise to consider every piece of advice as a second opinion, which can be laid over the opinion we already hold to see if there is a confluence.
I understand the irritability of some public officials, whenever someone tries to say in public what they know and keep private. They know that the things we are doing to reduce poverty are not working. The things that would make any country poorer by the day are all present here. The population is growing faster than the GDP, more people get thrown out of their farms into IDP camps every day. And public resources are openly stolen by public officials. Farmers can no longer farm; from Kaduna to Enugu and Akure, and therefore cannot feed themselves. Yet, we disagree with those who are gracious enough to do research on us to find solutions. What is the result of our own research? The financial condition of the research institutes will tell you the future we are creating.
In any case, what is so big about being the world headquarters of the abject poor for a country that runs an extractive economic system and puts back little or nothing to grow the economy? Or one that makes no cars but uses Range Rovers and Land Cruisers as official cars for its unproductive officials. Or one where the national budget has become a ploy for the transfer of public resources to the private coffers of those trusted with the public weal through phony community empowerment programmes foisted on the budget.
When India held that record (assuming without conceding that they have hived it onto us) did the world boycott them? Did Nigeria tighten immigration checks on Indians who flow in, father, mother, children and cousins piling into tiny flats in Ilupeju and other cities? We did not stop sending our government officials whose kidneys have been damaged by the luxuries of public office. Instead, we embraced them the more and as though in a sweep of solidarity, provided them the foreign currency support against poverty. Now, if they have found a fall guy in Nigeria and passed on this undesirable mantle so what? I thought the challenge should rather be to see what went wrong. And trust me, you won’t look too hard to see the foot prints of the large animal that stepped on our ankle bones, making it impossible for Nigeria to run away as India tried to dump the toxic waste (poverty headquarters) on us.
And I think it is preposterous for Nigerian leaders to be mad on hearing that our socio-economic conditions have gone down so much so that we could host the largest number of the abjectly poor in the world. It means they don’t get the message. Even without a Brookings report, what did you expect was happening to poverty as your citizens, in their thousands, scurry to safety in IDP camps as refugees almost daily, leaving behind every iota of their economic activity? What did you expect when those villagers, yet to be sacked by herdsmen are too afraid to go to their farms? It is a sign of the times really that anyone would imagine that the palliative measures we have been administering would douse the mind-bugging fire of destitution ravaging the country.
Every piece of advice or even adverse comment ends up making the receiver stronger. Assuming (without ever suggesting) that the Brookings Institution, a well-acknowledged non-profit decided to lie that Nigeria has overtaken India in abject poverty, should our reasoned reaction be a rejection and an attack? We are a country with our own institutions, even if they are run down by our legendary corruption, nepotism and mediocrity. Let us commission a study to disprove the Brookings Institution. It is becoming a tradition in Nigeria never to accept any view that is critical of us, foreign or local. Ask the microfinance institutions operating outside Lagos and Abuja what they think about poverty in Nigeria. Short of passing a vote of no confidence on themselves by admitting that they themselves are being overwhelmed by the fire of poverty, they would admit it is worsening. Even blind people can tell you they “see” the trend.
What we need is a productive economy that employs its young people. That is impossible when state governors remain incapable of protecting life and property in their states as it is now. The dubious excuses against state police remains central to the fraud against this nation. The current structure of Nigeria in which a federation is run as a unitary state guarantees that everyone pockets their own ideas and wait for the federal government. Nothing creative will ever happen in any part of the country until we release the energies of our people through freedom to think and act. Everybody knows that the only direction we can go under the present political structure is south. Declining poverty is incompatible with a political structure that prevents competition and penalizes hard work.