It is time to review our aspirations about poverty in our country. All people have the same basics needs which are fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, incontaminated food to eat and livelihoods that allow them to earn their living and raise healthy educated children. Lets see our global society in which people everywhere are entitled to live in peace and security with their families and neighbours, and enjoy in full their civil and political rights. We want to see how economic work in hand with accountable government the rule of law and a strong civil society.
Looking at the population census, about 1.3 billions people, “almost 70 percent are women” nearly a quarter the worlds population. They continue to live in extreme poverty. They lack access to opportunities and services which they feel isolated and powerless and often feel excluded by ethnicity, caste, geography and gender. They lack information and access to health and education facilities, to productive assets to market their goods or labour. They believe nobody listen and often have no way of being heard in places where the decision which affect their lives are made.
Poor people particularly the women are the most vulnerable to all forms of violence and abuse, including domestic violence, crime and civil conflict because in many cases, the systems of justice and government service do not fully extend to them.
On Monday 13, February 2012, Vanguard reports some basics statistics. Mr. Yemi Kale, the statistics General of the Federation disclosed the Nigeria poverty profile reports 2010. Nigeria’s poverty has rated up at 69 percent in 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also said the figure was higher than the 54 percent recorded in 2004.
In all this, the North East geo-political zones also recorded the highest poverty rates in the country with 77.7 percent and 76-3 percent recorded respectively.
Among other States from North –West and North –East geo-political zones it was also recorded that Sokoto had the highest poverty rate with 86.4 percent recorded in Jigawa in 2004. Niger state had the lowest with 43. 6 percent recorded by Anambra in 2004 among the geo-political zones, the North –East recorded the highest rates at 70 percent and 69 percent while South West had the least at 49.8 percent.
Looking at all this statistics, Sokoto had the highest at 81. 2 percent. While Niger had the least at 33.8 percent during the review period.
In this, Nigeria showed that the 2010 report out of 112,519 million Nigerians live in relative poverty conditions, out of an estimated population of 163 million people.
The absolute poverty measure put the country poverty rate at 99.284 million or 60.9 percent. But the North-West and North-East recorded the highest poverty rates in the country in 2010, with 77.7percent and 76.3 percent respectively.
Using the absolute poverty measures, 54.7 percent of Nigerians were living in poverty in 2004 but this increased to 60.9 percent or 99.284 million Nigerians in 2010 as reported by Vanguard on Monday 13 February 2012.
In this rate, Nigeria considered themselves to be poor in 2010 against 75.5 percent recorded in 2004. This means those Nigeria poverty rates have increase higher than as it is in the past.
The fact is that people survive at all these conditions is remarkable statement to the human spirit but the poor men and women apply enormous creativity strength and dynamism on a daily basis to solve problems that those who live comfortably can hardly begin to understand how the country grows up or down.
People who are poor have assets on their own skills, in their social institutions, in their values and cultures, their detailed and the knowledge of their own environment.
In rural communities, there is a dense fabric of relationship, right and obligations which allow people to collaborate in sustaining livelihood as was mention above, under the most difficult stage in life. Given this necessary support the poor can be the means as well as those who benefits from sustainable development where the poor people have rights and choices, they are able to make good use of them including where the community collectively is involved in the management of common pool resources.
Sustaining development to eradicates poverty rest above all on the achievement of economic growth that is not only stable but which embraces poor people and allows them to share in the fruits of development such growth must outstrip population growth sustain in the period of time to have any real effect and recognise that environmental protection is a integral part of the development process.
In order to benefit and promote the participation of the poor, economic growth must incorporate a sound and open macro-economic framework to this country, so that this can help in eradicating the menace caused by poverty in every individuals homes must especially the “poor.” Looking at the recent fuel scarcity, 80 percent of the poor can afford to fuel their vehicles and motorbike while 20 percent that are rich does not know if there is fuel scarcity or not. If this menace by poverty can not be eradicated then, the poverty rates in this country will increase to many exceptations.
To eradicate this menace, both the state government and federal government should provide a framework of law and regulations within which people can exercise their rights. It is the poor who pays the price if these conditions are not in place. Sustaining development as the 1995 world summit for social development agreed, is not possible unless human rights are protected or all including the poorest and the most disadvantaged states have a responsibility to play to ensure that these rights are respected all over this country, Nigeria.
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FIFTY-Six South Africans were barred Wednesday night from entering Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Twenty-eight were stopped on Sunday - in retaliation for the deportation of 125 Nigerians last Friday - as reported exclusively yesterday by The Nation.