Poverty \u0026 Basic Needs

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Final Exam

Poverty and basic Needs in Africa

Case Study (Nigeria)

Lois C. Etete

SOC: 300

December 16, 2012

2Poverty and Basic Needs in Africa (Nigeria)

Introduction

Poverty and Basic Needs in Africa

Trends of Poverty in Africa

Decade after decade, politicians and international

organizations have failed to reduce poverty. Nor have they been

able to help Africa generate growth or build basic

infrastructure.

Worse, between 1975 and 2000 it was the only place on earth where

poverty has intensified. It's only recently that the situation

started to slowly improve. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

Excluding the African continent from the world

In fact, there has been some growth since 1995 but it's been

mostly in the very new services sector so it created only a few

jobs whereas manufacturing and agriculture could have done much

better. As the British prime minister declared in 2001 African


poverty is "a scar on the conscience of the world".

(Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

In recent years, globalization and technological inflation

have made it only worse. It only helped further excluding the

continent and widening the gaps with the rest of the world.

However development economists and experts from all boards are

now approaching the problem from new angles to provide innovative

ways to fight African poverty. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

Better yet, some African countries are now emerging as real

economic powers thanks to better leadership and deals with

foreign investors to build infrastructure. Let's see how all that

improves our understanding of poverty in Africa, the plague of a

continent. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012).

Globalization & causes of poverty in Africa

Better off rich or poor? Aside from political and social

reasons (e.g. corruption, ethnic violence), many economists argue

that the absence of economic growth is in part due to a


detrimental geography that impacts on the economy.


But in many cases, oil-rich African countries are also more

likely to be exploited by other countries or powerful

corporations who always find a way to not pay much-needed taxes

(billions and billions of dollars). (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

In most developing countries, disparities pose the problem

of redistribution of wealth, but many African countries are

simply too poor to redistribute anything. The average income

level is sometimes so low that even working people live under

poverty. So, how does one fix that?

Free trade agreements against the African continent

International trade policies, for example, are incomparably

more important than international aid to end African poverty and

help its countries to integrate the global market. Surprising?

Not that much considering the global competition that the

continent has to face: not only are the US, the European Union

protecting their key industries (especially those that Africa

could compete with, like agriculture), but now Asian countries


also got in the game, spearheaded by India and China.


With each of them seeking to protect their benefits, the

international community should rather give preferential market

conditions to poor countries (e.g. for export or agricultural

development). This would provide them a path to fast development,

and hopefully diffuse the benefits to inner regions.

(Poverties.org, 2011-2012). In that way the internal market could

also thrive and help alleviate poverty in African countries that

are landlocked.

International aid in Africa

Corruption and poverty reduction

So far local governments, international aid and market

reforms had only a minimal effect on the population. Consequence:

folks have had to solve their problems on their own, outside the

system. It is only recently new international policies, such as

the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal (MDG).



In Africa, have stopped overlooking the effect of politics

on local economies: transparent and accountable government, rule

of law, public resources management, free and fair election

combined with an active civil society are now recognized as a

vital factor of poverty alleviation. This whole forms what

specialists now call “good governance”. (Poverties.org, 2011-

2012)

Considering the extent of corruption and violence of local

councils and governments, it’s not surprising that a huge part of

the African population can only fend for itself most of the time,

relying on a makeshift economy. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

This makes them hard to reach by international aid but at

least they have an alternative system to fall back upon: coping

through sharing. Not only farmers in rural areas but African

urbanites as well manage to avoid the claws of the law. This

makes many development policies totally ineffective.

International aids are more transparent, less corrupt.



Another issue is that aid donors obviously want to make

sure that their money is put to the right use, rather than to

building palaces for individual use. Now how things have changed

is that foreign aid has become demand-driven with local

communities, governments and NGOs competing to receive the funds.


This should help foster competitiveness and efficiency of

development projects as well as transparency. In other words it

should radically reduce corruption and embezzlement. This model

was field tested and can help avoid the case of the African

Millennium Villages, blindly “shooting” money in every direction

in a local community, like a crazy action hero who doesn't

believe in nuances and complexities of real life. (Poverties.org,

2011-2012)

What is needed is targeted funding that provides new

opportunities and incentives for people to participate in the

development of their country. Humanitarian aid remains way too

opaque, only the most concrete and effective programs should


remain. In particular those that help local entrepreneurs, not

multinationals. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

For the past six decades. The need for tailored development

unlike other continents, a great share of the population in

Africa lives in landlocked, resource-scarce countries which

accounts for 1% of its overall growth rate. Another consequence

of this is that policymakers need to start thinking in terms of

context-based development strategies rather than continent-based

ones. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

In particular, concerning the resource-poor landlocked

regions, these very regions are the ones that would need a sort

of targeted, continuous aid flow in order to steadily raise

consumption levels, therefore consistently reducing poorness in

Africa. Nevertheless, today's aid flows only focus on short-term

emergencies. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

Health and poverty in Africa

Almost half of the population in Africa suffers from water-

related diseases. On top of insufficient hygiene education, the

frequent inundations (and lack of risk prevention) play an


important role: in Mozambique over 1 million people were

displaced by the floods of 1999/2000 and an unknown number

killed. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

Diseases in Africa – and in particular HIV-AIDS – are

another major threat to economic development. As an academic

(Whiteside 2002) puts it: “one of the main consequences of the

disease is that it impoverishes individuals, households and

communities”, thus further entrenching the roots of poverty in

Africa. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

This is a vicious cycle by which poverty boosts the spread

of HIV which in turn increases poverty. The case of the poor in

South Africa shows that despite the country's substantial growth,

that wealth is still too concentrated in the hands of an

"uninfected" minority. That way the gap between the rich and the

poor only gets bigger and bigger, making it harder for

impoverished populations to catch up with the well-off.


Hygiene and sanitation first


As for basic sanitation and hygiene, it is first and

foremost an educational issue. Hygienic habits have consistently

prevented millions of deaths across the world in the past

decades. And just like in all the countries where it happened,

massive full-scale educational campaigns are needed to

significantly alleviate poverty in Africa. (Poverties.org, 2011-

2012)

Education and poverty in Africa

Education - A neglected cause of poverty starting to feel

slightly overwhelmed? We are just talking about everyday life

poverty here. So, not only does proper education help eradicate a

great deal of diseases (STIs, sanitation, etc), but there is also

a direct link between levels of education and poverty.


Authoritarian rule in most countries has only made the

situation worse, deepening both levels of education and poverty

in Africa. For that reason, although some argue that

authoritarian regimes can better spur development in some cases


(China, Singapore), but in this case democracy seems more

appropriate for the case of Africa.

Is democracy better suited to Africa? Experts who hold this

argument ground it on several factors including: the multi-

ethnics nature of most countries (better representation of

everyone’s interests), the need for better governance and

redistribution of the riches in absence of strong political will,

and pervasiveness of corruption that drives people away from the

legal and institutional life. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

But the experience of democracy in the West has also

resulted as we have seen with the protests in 2011 that most of

rich countries' wealth eventually ended up in the hands of very

small elite. Education to gain skills first and foremost even

though many fancy universities tend to forget it, education is in

general about teaching people skills, thereby enhancing

productivity, creativity, and exchanges. (Poverties.org, 2011-

2012)

Higher education is crucial to bring Africa back into the

world system (yes it’s been kind of left aside) and bridge the


digital gap with other continents. What we need is then

consistent education in ICTs on top of developing the

infrastructure (optic fiber, antennas, and electricity grids) so

that people can benefit from an advanced use of ICTs and harness

their economic potential. (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

Poverty in Nigeria (Overview)

Why is Nigeria poor?

Poverty in Nigeria has been a problem for more than 50% of

the population in the past 10 years, with surges over 60%. In

1980 however a little less than 30% of Nigerians were living

below the poverty line. In fact it seems there has been no real

change in Nigerians’ living standards, while living standards

worldwide have been increasing, thus including goods that are

vital for social inclusion (access to radio, TV,

telecommunications). (Poverties.org, 2011-2012)

A popular online dictionary defined mass in the noun sense

as a large body of persons in a compact group. The same

dictionary defined mass further as the great body of the people


as contrasted with the elite. It is from mass that the commonly

used plural form “masses” was obtained. (Aderounmu, 2007)

Poverty describes the state of one who lacks a usual or

socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The

Merriam Webster dictionary informs that poverty may cover a range

from extreme want of necessities to the absence of material

comforts.

These introductory definitions reveal that mass poverty

without doubt is prevalent in Nigeria. Simply, mass poverty is

the poverty that affects the masses of a population who have

extreme want of necessities. Mass poverty in Nigeria epitomizes

this definition plus the aspect that expatiate on the almost

complete absence of material comforts. (Aderounmu, 2007)

In general, mass poverty is an expression with broad

implications that goes beyond the limitations of the amount of

money or material possessions that the people have. A quick trip

round Nigeria like the one that changed Pat Utomi’s life and

views on the perception of Nigeria can reveal much. (Aderounmu,

2007)


It is very annoying actually to see the reality of life in

everyday Nigeria in contrast to the deceitful jingles and praise

singings that the government and sycophants orchestrated. What we

see and what we get as Nigerians is not what we deserve. We

deserve a better life. (Aderounmu, 2007)

Poverty in Nigeria has many indices. This discussion on

poverty may actually have been over flogged yet it is still been

addressed and treated locally and internationally. Nigeria is a

country with over 140 million people therefore the dimension of

mass poverty in Nigeria is both dreadful and shocking.

(Aderounmu, 2007)

Many citizens of Nigeria cannot afford to live a decent

life. Several millions of Nigerians do not have the usual or

socially acceptable amount of money or materials possessions.

Only a few people are comfortable. (Aderounmu, 2007)

The situation is made worse because of the absence of basic

infrastructure of life. It doesn’t seem that successive

governments in Nigeria are involved in providing houses for

masses in Nigeria after the 1970s. Some states governments have


been involved in building houses that are affordable by the few

and more privileged persons, the elites. (Aderounmu, 2007)

Beyond the textbook editions or verbal policy, what are the

roles of the Ministry of Housing? The masses are invariably

always out of the poverty alleviation or eradication question.

Commonly, drinking water does not flow in Nigerian homes. People

have to buy water as many bore holes have run dry and the public

taps have virtually disappeared. (Aderounmu, 2007)

One can begin to wonder what the functions of the Water

Corporation are. Even cities like Lagos that is lineated by the

Atlantic Ocean plus a number of internal lagoons cannot get water

to its inhabitants. Yet, every election year the people receive

promises from desperate politicians that they will be provided

with water. Lies upon deceits you may say. (Aderounmu, 2007)

Causes of Poverty in Nigeria

Unemployment, corruption, non-diversification of the

economy, income inequality,


Laziness and a poor education system can be considered to be some

of the key factors contributing to poverty in Nigeria. (Ucha,

2010)

Some Key Factors Contributing to Poverty in Nigeria

Unemployment

Unemployment is a major factor contributing to poverty in

Nigeria. There is a strong

correlation between unemployment and poverty. When people are

unemployed, their source of livelihood depletes over time. The

cost of living becomes high and the standard

of living goes down. (Ucha, 2010)

There are many people in Nigeria who lack the opportunity of

being employed. The formal unemployment rate in Nigeria as

estimated by the World Bank in 2007 was 4.9 percent and Nigeria

ranked 61st across the worlds countries (Ucha, 2010)

As reported by the then newly released African Development

Indicators report of the World Bank showed that “education, once


seen as the surest, undisputed gateway to employment, no longer

looks so certain.” This is very true in the case of Nigeria. The

fact that you are an educated Nigerian is no guarantee that you

will be employed. (Ucha, 2010)

Furthermore, according to the World Bank report,

unemployment in Africa is

higher among those who have attained a higher education of some

kind, and also those in

wealthy households because they depend solely on the wealth of

their families and do not

consider employment a priority. (Ucha, 2010)

Many graduates in Nigeria wander the streets without

anything reasonable to do for a

living. The government is capable but unwilling to provide jobs

for them. Employment in

Nigeria is usually not based on merit but depends on how

connected you are with people

that has power. (Ucha, 2010)


This leaves many highly qualified people in poverty as

seemingly no one cares to know what they are capable of

achieving. These people are missing out on the income they would

have gotten if they were employed. The number of quality jobs in

the economy is low and many government resources are

misallocated. (Ucha, 2010)

Unemployment-induced poverty tends to increase the crime

rate and violence in the

country. Most unemployed youths resort to crimes such as armed

robbery, kidnapping for

ransom, internet fraud and other forms of fraudulent activities.

The reservation wage they

get from these activities is typically barely enough to take care

of their basic necessities. (Ucha, 2010)

Corruption

Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse

of entrusted power for

private gain.”6 This has become a common act in Nigeria and it

has destabilized the


political system drastically. Government funds are being

misappropriated on a daily basis

by the leaders, who only put the interest of their family and

friends at heart while ignoring the masses. The corruption has

eaten so deeply into the government and economy that everyone

seems to be blinded by it. (Ucha, 2010)

Corruption has almost become an acceptable way of life in

Nigeria. In Nigeria, the government’s income is generated mostly

from natural resource revenues. This income, instead of being

used for developmental purposes, is then circulated among the

political office holders and their families, leaving the rest of

the people to wallow in poverty. (Ucha, 2010)

Political leaders practically ignore the affairs and

wellbeing of their people who elected them into office. They

mismanage and embezzle funds. There are several issues involved

with bad governance in Nigeria, use of wrong policies, adaptation

to wrong policies and implementation of those wrong policies.

(Ucha, 2010)


In any case, it is clear that Nigeria’s corruption has

increased poverty and inequality as well as contributed to high

crime rates.

Non-Diversification of the Economy – Oil Over-Dependency

While Nigeria’s poverty has been identified to be caused by

many factors, Nigeria’s non-diversification of the economy can be

seen as a major factor. Before 1970, the Nigerian economy was

driven by the agricultural sector. The oil sector which only

constituted 1 percent of the country’s export revenue in 1958

rose to 97 percent by 1984 and has since then not gone below 90

percent. (Ucha, 2010)

In 2008, the oil and gas sector constituted about 97.5

percent of their export revenues, 81 percent of government

revenues and about 17 percent of GDP.7 In Nigeria, those in power

have practically ignored other sources of income, and today,

Nigeria depends heavily on exporting oil. This dependency on

natural resources is often referred to as “Dutch disease”,

whereby natural resources make a country less competitive. (Ucha,

2010)


Excluding the few working in the oil sector, the majority of

the people have been impoverished as their products have become

irrelevant. The agricultural sector, which was their major means

of income before the discovery of oil, is considered almost

useless. (Ucha, 2010)

Beyond the Dutch disease, Nigeria’s abundance of a natural

resource has led to what is known as a resource course, which is

reflected in the “Niger Delta Crisis (reflecting the region of

the country where most of the oil is coming from). The people in

this region are fighting for resource control as they claim the

government is not fulfilling their promise of giving them the

large part of the oil revenues. (Ucha, 2010)

The wealth from natural resources in Nigeria is supposed to

be working with the derivation policy, but this policy is not

functional in any way, as the oil-producing states are still

impoverished and this policy is supposed to work in a way such

that these states with these natural resources should be able to

get a large part of the countries revenue as they contribute a

lot to the national wealth. (Ucha, 2010)


Inequality

Inequality implies a concentration of a distribution,

whether one is considering income,

consumption, some welfare indicators or attributes. There was an

increase in income disparity after the economic growth which

Nigeria experienced between1965-1975, and this income inequality

has increased the dimension of poverty in the country (Ucha,

2010).

The income inequality between the people in rural and urban

areas in Nigeria is remarkably high, as those who live in the

rural areas base all their income on agriculture which is today

not a thriving sector in Nigeria as oil has taken over the

economy. They do not invest their money to acquire skills as

people in the urban areas would and this makes them more

vulnerable to poverty and leads to some social and economic

problems such as violence, corruption and so on. (Ucha, 2010)

There is a very high disparity between the income of the

richest 10 and 20 percent and the poorest 10 and 20 percent. In

2003, the income of the poorest 10 percent of Nigeria’s


population was only 1.9 percent, while that of the richest 10

percent was 33.2 percent. Table 2 also shows that the income

share of the richest 10 percent has decreased slightly compared

to 1996 (37.1 percent), though the 2003 share remains higher than

what it was in 1993 (32.5 percent). (Ucha, 2010)

A more equal distribution of Nigeria’s income would go a

long way in reducing the rate of poverty, but because it is

typically the rich people who hold political offices or are

related to those holding political office, income remains

concentrated among the rich. (Ucha, 2010)

Laziness

Laziness is a common disease which is virtually suffered by

many Nigerians today, especially those from wealthy households.

Everyone wants to be comfortable but they are not ready to work

towards it. This often leads to greed where people will do

whatever they can to keep the family wealth for themselves.

(Ucha, 2010)

In most families, everyone depends on the bread winner, who

works so much to keep the family going and when he dies the


family is likely to become poor because of mismanagement of

funds. In most Nigerian families, the death of the bread winner

means the death of the whole family fortunes; because everyone

was depending on him/her to provide everything. (Ucha, 2010)

Poor Education System

Education can play a major role in reducing poverty.

According to the World Bank,

education is central to development. It promotes economic growth,

national productivity and innovation, and values of democracy and

social cohesion. In Nigeria, the population with no education

account for most of the poor. (Ucha, 2010)

The education system in Nigeria can be regarded as a failure

compared to other countries in the world. The United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights8 states that “everyone has

the right to an education.” This right to education has been

denied to many Nigerians, of which many of them can be considered

invisible to the society now. (Ucha, 2010)

This deprivation of education applies more to females than

males, because they are considered the inferior sex. Hence


educating them is seen as unnecessary as they are expected to

marry as early as possible. (Ucha, 2010)

Conclusion

Poverty is multi-dimensional and even though it is difficult

to separate the various dimensions of poverty from the various

causes of poverty, in the case of Nigeria, we have shown that

unemployment, corruption, the non-diversification of Nigeria’s

economy, inequality, laziness, and a poor education system are

some of the key determinants of poverty. (Ucha, 2010)

These determinants are many times related to each other and

also enforce each other. For example, unemployment, poor

education and poverty can be seen as vicious cycle. Today, people

who are not educated lack the opportunity of being hired for good

jobs, and the poor masses today still cannot afford to go to

school which makes them the poor unemployed masses tomorrow.

(Ucha, 2010)

Hence, all these factors are correlated and must all be

tackled together if any progress wants to be made. Being educated


does not necessarily mean you will be employed. Many people

graduate from school and stay for years without a job. This is

partly due to a lack of employment opportunities as well as

corruption. (Ucha, 2010)

Many offices hire solely by preference, not by merit.

Preferential treatments have become the order of the day, and

this increases the number of unemployed graduates. Nigeria needs

to do more for the employment of young graduates, which will also

help in reducing crime rates, as many youths resort to crime for

survival. (Ucha, 2010)

A factor that is very critical for Nigeria is the need for

economic diversification. As the Niger Delta crisis suggests, if

there is a problem in the oil sector, the whole country is facing

economic and social problems as oil contributes about 97 percent

of Nigeria’s export revenues. More investments need to be made in

the agricultural sector and other promising sectors of the

economy. (Ucha, 2010)

Finally, there are various aspects of poverty that have not

been discussed in this paper. For example, the area of health


care also needs more attention, especially with regards to

reducing Nigeria’s high rate of infant mortality. Many children

are dying from several preventable diseases, such as cholera,

malaria and so on. By providing clean water and adequate health

care services, the government can save the lives of infants and

women. (Ucha, 2010)


Reference

Aderounmu, A. (2007, June 9th). Mass Poverty. (Adeola, Ed.) Thy Glory O' Nigeria. Retrieved December 16th, 2012, from http://aderinola.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/mass-poverty-in-nigeria/

Poverties.org. (2011-2012). Poverty In Africa a lost cause. Poverty. Retrieved 12 16, 2012, from http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-africa.html

Ucha, C. (2010, June). Poverty in Nigeria: Some Dimensions and Contributors of poverty. (Chimobi, Ed.) Global Majority E. Journal,Vol.1, No.1, pp 46-56. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://www.american.edu/cas/economics/ejournal/upload/Global_Majority_e_Journal_1-1_Ucha.pdf


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