The war against poverty

The war against poverty is perpetual. It’s an eternal struggle against a disease that can only be controlled but not fully eliminated.

Poverty is a global pandemic and a potent threat to peace, stability and progress. No nation is without a portion of poor people, no matter its level of development. Like Jesus said in his famous quote: “You will always have the poor among you.” This is a timeless truth that cannot be disputed.

Governments around the world have adopted different and diverse approaches in the fight against poverty. The Chinese have reportedly “lifted” 300 million of their citizens out of poverty. Other nations have made significant and impressive gains in this effort.

In Nigeria, various governments have adopted a “palliatives model” in the battle to tame this monster. This is basically handouts to the most vulnerable in society. The Ibrahim Babangida military regime, for instance, introduced community banks, People’s Bank and other fiscal measures to connect the people to the formal sector in order to bring them into the mainstream of the national economy so as to give them easy access to micro credit.

The effort didn’t yield results because of poor management and lack of transparency on the part of the executors and beneficiaries of the scheme. People were not educated on how to manage money before being given access to funds for business. Consequently, the grassroots banking system collapsed under the weight of mass loan default and corruption.

In America, at the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the American government give out so-called benefits (which cost millions of dollars) to many of its citizens. The scheme disincentivized people to make efforts to work from home and led to many cases of identity fraud and even inflation in the country in 2021. The Nigerian government attempted to copy the model and that was when the word “palliative” became so popular in our modern-day conversation on this issue.

Today, palliatives seem to be the government’s response to reduce the immediate negative impact of poverty ravaging the country. But this approach of throwing money at problems and distributing foodstuff to the masses or sending money to financially distressed families is just scratching the surface of a deeper problem. When people get handouts, how long does it take to consume it?

Currently, South Africa has a large unemployed population at 33 percent, the highest in the world. Many of the indigenous poor black citizens now live mostly on handouts and in subsidized housing schemes and townships. There are many debates in the country as regards the negative impact this is having on the mentality of the citizenry and their attitude to work. While the government may be seen to be doing their best, handouts do not seem to be of much help in the quest to solve the employment and poverty problem.

Seeing as how the US, which is supposed to be a first-world country cannot effectively manage poverty and South Africa, which is arguably the most advanced country in Africa, is almost at a boiling point because of poverty and high levels of unemployment, Nigeria needs a holistic approach to solving the poverty problem.

The handouts or palliative model is a failure and aids in the festering of corrupt practices. We need a more profound, realistic and impact-driven solution that could significantly lift the poor permanently out of the dragnet of endemic poverty.

In a country already synonymous with corruption, no amount of money or foodstuff given to share to the masses would be managed efficiently to achieve any positive impact on poverty reduction. We have to decide whether we want to empower the poor to live above the poverty line themselves or keep giving them stipends that only last a few weeks.

We have to provide the relevant social infrastructure and services required to operate a productive economy, with adequate micro credit schemes that are efficiently managed to generate self-sufficiency in local production of food, services and industrial production.

Recently, we saw a viral video of a truckload of perishable food items that have become rotten on the road because of poor interstate road networks. This shows that while food is being produced locally within the country, it is extremely inefficient to transport it at a profit across the country. This affects employment as huge investments are lost every day because of poor road infrastructure.

In this case, seeing as the government has made great strides in the revival of the once decrepit Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), they should invest in making sure the rail infrastructure stretches across the entire country and not just some regions. They must include means by which goods can be transported on this rail network. Fuel, foodstuff, cars and many other items can take advantage of this, if it is well done and if it is efficient enough. What this will do is improve profitability of many businesses and promote employment as more investors can come in.

The country also has a major electricity problem. If this can be improved, many companies will be able to reduce their daily cost on diesel and petrol. They will be able to make more profit and employ more labour where relevant, instead of desperately looking for means to cut costs every time.

There are many more things that can be done. If local production is improved and adequately supported, import dependency will reduce significantly. Once we are able to achieve a productive economic base, our currency would become stronger and poverty will reduce naturally. All we need is a government with enough resolution and conviction to see these things through.