Poverty and widening inequality in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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The target of the sustainable development goal is to end extreme poverty and inequality by 2030 and achieve inclusive growth in the world. However, as World Bank (2016) observed, we face a powerful threat to progress around the world with increasing poverty and inequality. Poverty reduction has been a policy focus of developing countries and the international communities. Since the 1990s. This chapter discusses the different dimensions of poverty and inequality in Nigeria. The global and domestic approaches adopted in Nigeria to tackle the problem of poverty and inequality are also discussed in this chapter. The role of women in development and poverty alleviation was also discussed because women constitute a great percentage of the population in Nigeria. Their activities especially at the household level has a way of affecting development. The last section summaries and concludes the chapter and suggests way forwards.
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Poverty is one of the challenges in the twenty-first century Nigeria. Ironically, a country that is endowed with natural resources (e.g. petroleum, Coal, copper, cocoa, Palm oil, etc) has become one of the countries in grave needs. The post Nigerian societies have been confronted with a rise in unemployment, hunger, starvation, homelessness, that has marred development and increased inequality. Despite the success recorded in Nigeria economy, more than half of her population still lives in penury. However, this paper draws attention to the high rate of poverty in Nigeria. Its essence lies in the awakening and illumination of our consciousness on the plight of the poor in Nigeria. It also negates the highly celebrated trophy of economic growth in Nigeria. In this light, this paper begins by conceptualizing poverty. It then explores poverty in Nigeria. KEY WORDS: poverty, justice, Nigeria, peter singer.
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The concept of poverty is explicated by UN as those for whom „a minimum, nutritionally adequate diet plus essential non-food requirements are not affordable‟. This definition is not all encompassing as many aspects of what constitutes a poor state is excluded. For instance, some scholars argued that social exclusion, in the form of being discriminated against, despised or disrespected, should be made part of the definition of poverty because poverty is not just about having less in quantitative terms, but also involves a qualitative difference, such as fear of the future, shame, etc. The task of this paper therefore is to review the different opinions of several scholars concerning the concept of Poverty and relate it to how it encourages or discourages insecurity in a nation (Nigeria in Perspective). The paper will conceive poverty in two ways. Poverty used to describe a state of affairs in an absolute sense or to describe a state of affairs relative to another. When one is describ...
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The challenge of the 2 I'' century has been how to confront and reduce widespread inequalities and poverty. This remains the core of development problems that underline the principal objective of development policy as embodied in the Millennium Declaration. Despite significant improvements over the past 50 years in advancing human well-being, extreme poverty and inequities remain widespread in the developing world. The world today is characterized by vertiginous accumulation of wealth by a few to the exclusion of larger majority who suffer untold hardrhip and Impoverishment. These conditions have been exacerbated by the adoption of free market paradigm anchored on private accumulation. This has engendered an overlap of all types of injustice and social polarization that now define the basis for social life in most countries of the world, including Nigeria where 70 percent of the population lives below US$ one dollar a day. As an exploratory study, secondary sources ofdata we...
Governance and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria
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Poverty is a global issue. It is estimated that almost half the world-over 3 billion people-live on less than 2.50aday(Shah,2013).TheGDP(GrossDomesticProduct)ofthe41HeavilyIndebtedPoorCountries(567millionpeople)islessthanthewealthoftheworld′s7richestpeoplecombined.Nearlyabillionpeopleenteredthe21stcenturyunabletoreadabookorsigntheirnames(Shah,2013).Lessthanonepercentofwhattheworldspenteveryyearonweaponswasneededtoputeverychildintoschoolbytheyear2000andyetitdidn′thappen.1billionchildrenliveinpoverty(1in2childrenintheworld).640millionlivewithoutadequateshelter,400millionhavenoaccesstosafewater,and270millionhavenoaccesstohealthservices.10.6milliondiedin2003beforetheyreachedtheageof5(orroughly29,000childrenperday)(Shah,2013).Sub−SaharaAfrica(SSA)isafflictedbymanyformsofpoverty.ThepovertysituationinSub−SaharanAfricancountriesisprecariousgiventhepercentageofpeoplelivingbelow2.50 a day (Shah, 2013). The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world's 7 richest people combined. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names (Shah, 2013). Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day) (Shah, 2013). Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is afflicted by many forms of poverty. The poverty situation in Sub-Saharan African countries is precarious given the percentage of people living below 2.50aday(Shah,2013).TheGDP(GrossDomesticProduct)ofthe41HeavilyIndebtedPoorCountries(567millionpeople)islessthanthewealthoftheworld′s7richestpeoplecombined.Nearlyabillionpeopleenteredthe21stcenturyunabletoreadabookorsigntheirnames(Shah,2013).Lessthanonepercentofwhattheworldspenteveryyearonweaponswasneededtoputeverychildintoschoolbytheyear2000andyetitdidn′thappen.1billionchildrenliveinpoverty(1in2childrenintheworld).640millionlivewithoutadequateshelter,400millionhavenoaccesstosafewater,and270millionhavenoaccesstohealthservices.10.6milliondiedin2003beforetheyreachedtheageof5(orroughly29,000childrenperday)(Shah,2013).Sub−SaharaAfrica(SSA)isafflictedbymanyformsofpoverty.ThepovertysituationinSub−SaharanAfricancountriesisprecariousgiventhepercentageofpeoplelivingbelow 1 a day. The use of socioeconomic indicators like per capita income, life expectancy at birth (years), access to health care services, access to safe water, access to education and access to sanitation facilities also depicts the extent of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (Adeyemi, Ijaiya, and Raheem, 2009:166). HDI scores in most countries of SSA have stagnated or declined since 1990, leaving the region as the poorest in the world. Indeed, 28 of the 31 low human development countries are in SSA (UNDP, 2006: 265). Since 1990, income poverty has fallen in all regions of the world except SSA, where there has been an increase both in the incidence and absolute number of people living in income poverty (Handley, Haggins, Sharma, Bird and Cammack, 2009:1). This sees some 300 million people in SSA-almost half of the region's population-living on less than US$1 a day (UNDP, 2006: 269). In Nigeria, an estimated 126 million out of the country`s 168.8million (as estimated in 2012) people live on less than N220.00 or USD1.25 per day. The enormous wealth in the country has not impacted positively on the well-being of the citizens. (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL;Sen, 2010). Despite the average GDP per capita, for a developing African nation, much of the Nigeria`s population suffers from extreme poverty. Nigeria ranked 151 out of 177 countries in the United Nations Development Index in 2004. Nigeria was ranked 158th on the United Nations' Human Poverty Index and over 50% of the population are living below 1perday.In2010,Nigeriaranked159thoutof177countriesinHumanDevelopmentIndex(Odularu,2008:3;Ogunkua2011).ThedisparitybetweenGDPpercapitaandthenumberofpeoplelivingbelow1 per day. In 2010, Nigeria ranked 159 th out of 177countries in Human Development Index (Odularu, 2008:3; Ogunkua 2011). The disparity between GDP per capita and the number of people living below 1perday.In2010,Nigeriaranked159thoutof177countriesinHumanDevelopmentIndex(Odularu,2008:3;Ogunkua2011).ThedisparitybetweenGDPpercapitaandthenumberofpeoplelivingbelow1 per day illustrates the enormous income gap in the country. Available data from the Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey (HNLSS) 2009/2010, which remains the follow-up to the Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NLSS) 2003/2004, conducted by the NBS(National Bureau of Statistics) reveals that efforts to alleviate poverty was not satisfactory. For instance, relative poverty and absolute poverty rates increased to 69.0% and 60.9% in 2010 respectively from 54.4% and 54.7% in 2004(2011 Annual Performance Report:38). According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 112.519 million Nigerians live in relative poverty conditions while other poverty measurement standard, absolute measure, which puts the country's poverty rate at 99.284 million or 60.9 per cent (Onuba, 2012). Despite the massive revenue from oil, 69 percent of over 100 million Nigerians were living within the poverty bracket. Nigeria had been unable to translate the huge natural resources at her disposal to the improvement of her citizens' living standard. According to the former World Bank Vice President and a former Minister for Education, Ezekwesili (cited in The Punch, 2013), "Nigeria has therefore tragically failed to translate her rich resource endowment to improvement in the standard of living of her citizens hence we today have 69 percent of over 100 million of our citizens in the poverty bracket ''. The rising level of poverty in the country has been attributed to poor governance. Evidence of terribly poor governance in Nigeria is palpable. It manifested in the corrupt, inept political leadership and weak civil institutions to dilapidated infrastructure, insecurity and mass poverty in the midst of opulence (www.punchng.com/editorial/reversing-poor-governanceand-poverty/). Our successive governments have similarly acknowledged our predicament and sometimes penned "home-grown" programmes that cost enormous time and money to produce. The critical difference between Nigeria and other developing countries however has been the unmitigated failure here to adopt good governance practices: faithfully implement plans and build strong institutions that can drive and sustain rapid development (www.punchng.com/editorial/reversing-poor-governance-and-poverty/). Ezekwesili (The Punch, 2013) submitted that Nigeria is the best known example of the African paradox of a land so rich in natural resources, but where the majority of the people are poor. She located the source of the mass poverty in poor governance, she recalled how corruption and economic mismanagement have condemned 69 per cent of the populace to poverty, while the Asian economies have galloped ahead (The Punch, 2013).