Poverty eats deeper in Nigeria amidst plenty

Poverty eats deeper in Nigeria amidst plenty Poverty in Nigeria is rising, with 112 million (60.9% of the 163 million population poor, despite 7.6 gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in Africa’s second largest economy in 2011, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed recently. The percentage of Nigerians living in abject poverty – those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing – rose to 60.9 percent in 2010.The bureau predicted this rising trend was likely to continue. Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but the sector has been tainted by accusations of corruption. According to the report, absolute poverty is measured by the number of people who can afford only the bare essentials of shelter, food and clothing. The NBS, a government agency, said there was a paradox at the heart of Nigeria as the economy was going from strength to strength, mainly because of oil production - yet Nigerians were getting poorer. Despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year, although it declined between 1985 and 1992, and between 1996 and 2004.Statistic show that in 1980 about 17.1 million were living in poverty, while in 1985 34.7 million entered the poverty level , in 1992 it increased to 39.2 million Nigerians, while in 1996: 67.1 million it increased to 68.7million in 2004 and in 2010 went up to 112.47 million Nigerians Oil accounts for some 80% of Nigeria's state revenues but it has hardly any capacity to refine crude oil into fuel, which has to be imported. Last month, there was a nationwide strike when the government tried to remove the subsidy on fuel, angering many Nigerians who see it as the only benefit they received from the country's vast oil wealth. The NBS said that relative poverty was most apparent in the north of the country, with Sokoto state's poverty rate the highest at 86.4%. In the north-west and north-east of the country poverty rates were recorded at 77.7% and 76.3% respectively, compared to the south-west at 59.1%. The report also revealed that Nigerians consider themselves to be getting poorer. In 2010, 93.9% of respondents felt themselves to be poor compared to 75.5% six years earlier. Nigeria has been in stagnation and relative decline since 1981, from a per capita GDP of US$1,200 in 1981 to about US$300 in 2000. In 1992, 34.1 percent of the population was below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook 2000 ; about 70 percent fell below that line in 2000, according to the World Bank. For many Nigerians the quality of life has declined rather than improved since independence 40 years ago. By contrast, the standard of living for a few privileged Nigerians—military officers and their civilian associates, corrupt politicians, and big contractors—has improved substantially. The average salaried worker cannot earn enough to support a family because of inflation and rises in food prices and transportation costs. The national minimum wage of N18,000 (about US$105.00) per month, adopted by the federal government but rejected by most of the states, falls far short of what is needed to cover housing, food, education, health care and transportation. The material condition of women, who comprise 50 percent of the population, is even worse than that of men because the welfare of women in general, including education, political participation, and workforce, had been neglected over the years until recently. The incidence of prostitution of Nigerian women within and outside the country has therefore increased. It is no wonder, given these prevailing conditions, that hypertension has become a major sickness among Nigerians since the 1980s. Housing and living facilities for the wealthy are very similar to those available to their counterparts in countries of the western world. Middle and lower-level income groups in the urban and rural areas live in individual houses or crowded flats (apartments). Rural dwellers live in cement or mud block houses with tin or thatched roofs, and have no running water for the most part. Water and electricity services in the major cities are erratic. Water supplies in many rural areas are infested with disease-carrying worms, while electricity services, under government auspices, are seldom available. We urge Government to wake up to it responsibilities and fight poverty headlong paying lip service through its many anti poverty agencies like NAPEP and its like is no longer working. They should provide Electricity, Housing, Hospitals, Schools for its teeming populace.

The IGs kick against the media over Boko Haram

When the inspector General of Police ,Muhammed Abubakar identified media coverage of the activities of the Boko haram sect as motivational factor for the group to see themselves as relevant and therefore passionately appealed to them to henceforth stop giving them such publicity he did not know that he has shot himself on the foot with his own gun because just as the police has the right to fight criminals and criminalities the media also have the right to constitutionally report to the public. We are also of the opinion that security organizations should stop putting there frustrations on the media whenever they fail in there duties as the media as long we can recall has never reported anything concerning the menace of the sect that the police didn’t know. Most times what the media repor are informations from press briefings organized by either the Joint Task Force,The State Security Services or the police. Instead of velifying them they should rather work hand in hand with the media whose only gain is to expose Boko Haram for what they stand for which is terrorism. No where in the world has the media blanked out on a serious issue such as terrorism which has taken so many lives. Apart from just reporting incidence such as when a bomb explodes or an attack on buildings carried out by the sect the media has the job of educating the public on what is going on and what to do so as not to be safe. Security organizations are not to choose for the media what they should report and what they shouldn’t report. Even though National security sometimes come to play it should not be an excuse to shot up the media. In the past issues that has little or nothing to do with National Security have been swept under the carpet .We should therefore be careful when determining what constitute national security. Does reporting a bomb blast that killed so many people constitute National Security? Dose also reporting a press statement by the sect that carried out the attack a breach to National Security. Will it be in whose interest that the blast was not reported or the perpetrated not exposed. Shouldn’t Nigerians know why they are been killed in there own country and how many of them have already died or don’t you think the press would be failing in its duty if it did not bring these information to the public glare. We think the inspector general of police owes the media accolades and not condemnation .Already many journalists have died trying to do what the constitution mandated them to do. The war against terrorism is not between the media and security organizations. It is with the sect and every security organization should concentrate on how to win it We are in the era of free press and any attempt to muscle the media will be resisted with every constitutional means necessary. That was why the National Assembly Passed the freedom in information Act.This is not to say that the media should not exercise restraint why reporting matters bothering on National security. They should. However they should not in restraining themselves censor news which would have informed or educated the people because it is there right to know and be informed. We are therefore calling on all concerned to exercise some degree of restrain why bearing in mind the right of the citizenry to know.