When will the poor be glad?

The mode of survival of the people is supposed to be at the heart of any national development strategy. But what do we find? We find out that most nations build their survival on specific beliefs about the future. Those at the helm of affairs think that if they marshal out their strategy properly, they would be on the path to development. But the future is highly unpredictable. The unpredictability of the future makes some nations fail despite their strategies. Worse, the requirements of a quantum leap in development recorded by many advanced countries demand implementing strategy in ways that make it possible to adjust should the future not turnout as expected. So what happens as a consequence of failure to adapt to new strategies in the face of failure of policy objectives?

Michael E Rayner, a Canadian writer, says that strategies with the greatest possibility of success also have the greater possibility of failure. This, according to the Canadian writer, is referred to as “strategic paradox.” Resolving this paradox requires a new way of thinking about strategy and uncertainty. That is why this writer shares Winston Churchill’s sentiments expressed in the above quote that a strategist must constantly appraise the end state of his or her strategy. If strategies adopted to implement policies are not providing results, there are always alternatives. Nations should seek alternatives to policies and implementation strategies that are not providing desired results.

Nigeria cannot hide from the problem of poverty- it is seen everywhere. May be only a few of those in government, and perhaps, some of their paid lackeys will say there is no poverty. Once in the corridor of power, government officials will come to a woolly deduction that Nigeria is doing well. It has recently been published by the Brooklyn Institute that “Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world.” This report is not novel because about two years ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report that 60 percent of Nigerians live in absolute poverty. Then, the NBS report wasn’t given much attention, maybe because the present administration has just started panel beating a seriously damaged economy.

What is novel in the Brooklyn’s report is that Nigeria has overtaken India with people living in extreme poverty in the world. Extreme poverty is “poverty that kills,” meaning that households cannot meet their basic needs for survival regularly. Those in the category of extreme poverty are chronically undernourished, unable to access healthcare, lacking safe drinking water and sanitation, unable to afford education for some or all of their children, and perhaps, lacking shelter and basic articles of clothing such as shoes. One should pray not to be in the category of almost 87 million people living in extreme poverty in Nigeria as compared to India’s 73 million.

What’s more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is reported to be growing by six people every minute, while that of India continues to fall. Do Nigerians ask a simple question: Why do we have millions of people still living in extreme poverty after several poverty alleviation programs of successive governments?

All governments known to this writer since the 1970s have one poverty alleviation program or the other. You will recall National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP), Seven-Point Agenda, Better Life for Rural Women, National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Rural Electrification Scheme and Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) and a host of others. These programs work while those who designed them are in office. When they leave office, their poverty alleviation programs follow them out of office.

There is lack of succession planning while some governments watch their poverty alleviation programs die prematurely to give birth to another with different strategic focus. The current administration of the All People Congress (APC) has the N-Power, the MSME Clinic, Market Moni and others. To ensure there is economic growth, the APC government released the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, is seen moving from one state to the other, marketing the government’s poverty alleviation programs. Who knows what will happen when this administration leaves office. Will there be another plan by those succeeding it? This writer believes that there are alternatives to any poverty alleviation plans or programs that are not working. But the inability to lift more citizens out of poverty through these numerous programs is an indictment on successive governments at local, state and federal levels.

One may argue that the federal government is trying regarding poverty alleviation. The “killer” of all the efforts so far is the uncontrolled rise in population. Yet, those in the government have not considered it imperative to address the issue of overpopulation. How will Nigeria meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of eliminating poverty by 2030? Nigeria is still an import dependent economy. Minimum wage is still N18,000 as it was in 2011. Nigeria’s rising debt profile is reported to have failed to boost economic growth. Economic growth is sluggish but population growth is increasing. Funds released to many federal lawmakers are not used to provide constituency projects. When constituency projects are executed by federal lawmakers, some are a caricature of what was nominated for in the budget. So there is exodus of the jobless from rural areas to urban areas. The implication is increased crime rate in urban areas and genocide in rural areas.

When all these issues are analyzed, one is compelled to ask: When will the poor living in Nigeria be glad in the midst of abundant resources? Those living in extreme poverty need transformation through compassion, while good intentions are to be transformed into actions that make lasting difference. It’s time for local, states, and federal governments to fight poverty in a way that demonstrates what the country stands for, and not only what it stands against. When the government keeps investing in infrastructure and neglecting its own people in education and healthcare, the rank and file of the poor keeps increasing. Nigeria is in a dilemma. It should invest in its people to reduce poverty.