International Day For Poverty Eradication: Matters Arising

By all standards, the theme for this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty — “Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination — is apt.
This is because enlightened observers believe that building a sustainable future requires the intensified efforts of all and sundry toward the eradication of extreme poverty and discrimination, while safeguarding the human rights of everyone.
“The full participation of people living in poverty, particularly in the decisions that affect their lives and communities, must be at the centre of policies and strategies to build a sustainable future,’’ says the Concept Note on the International Theme for the Day.
“In this way, we can guarantee that our planet and our societies can fulfil the needs and aspirations of everyone — not only those of a privileged few — for this and future generations,’’ it adds.
The Day, which is marked on Oct. 17 every year, aims at promoting public awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries of the world.
According to the United Nations (UN), fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the development of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The 2015 occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a special one, as it comes on the heels of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“The Agenda, which succeeds the MDGs, contains 17 new and ambitious goals — forefront among them, to end poverty in all its forms everywhere,’’ the UN says.
Analysts, nonetheless, describe poverty as a violation of human rights and underscore the need for people to come together to ensure that these rights are respected.
Poverty is not country-specific; rather it is more of a universal phenomenon and the causes of poverty are manifold and diverse.
For instance, a World Bank report shows that the causes of endemic poverty in Nigeria include harmful economic and political systems, national conflict and violence and human rights abuses.
The report adds that the other causes of poverty in the country are weak government effectiveness and efficiency, weak respect for rule of law, weak control of corruption, environmental conditions and changes, as well as population growth and changes.
However, the report concedes that extreme poverty rates in developing countries have been cut by more than half since 1990.
“While this is a remarkable achievement, one in five persons in developing regions still live on less than 1.25 U.S. dollar (about N250) a day, and there are millions more who make little more than this amount daily,’’ it says.
The report maintains that poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood.
Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, the report adds.
Another World Bank report estimates poverty rate in Nigeria to be in the region of 33.1 per cent in 2012/2013.
“For a country with massive wealth and a huge population to support commerce, the level of poverty remains unacceptable,’’ the report says.
Although, the Federal Government had initiated several programmes such as Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in the past to alleviate poverty; poverty still persists in the country.
A civil servant, Mr Collins Dogara, says that these programmes were not successful because of corruption and the lack of political will to eradicate poverty.
“Some of the past administrations upheld personal interests above national interests. There is no way poverty can be eradicated with such attitude to governance,” he says.
Dogara bemoans the alarming rate of poverty in the country, insisting that poverty is still endemic in the country.
“Poverty in Nigeria is terrible. People are suffering; many people are begging to survive while a lot of graduates are unemployed. The rate of poverty is still very high,” he says.
Dogara blames the development on corruption in government circles and laziness on the part of the youth.
“The welfare of citizens is supposed to be the main responsibility of government but the major problem is that money meant for development and eradication of poverty is often diverted,” he says.
Dogara says that the endemic poverty in the country has led to an upsurge in crime and vices such as kidnapping, armed robbery, insurgency and political thuggery.
He, however, advises the country’s youth population to stop depending on government jobs, while striving to become self-reliant.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Greg Eze, another civil servant, urges President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to fulfil its promise to fight corruption headlong.
“This is because corruption is a major cause of poverty.
“Apart from that, the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA) for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government will inadvertently engender more poverty in the country, as it affects the cash flow in the society,’’ he says.
Besides, Eze underscores the wisdom in introducing vocational and technical skills in schools’ curricula, as part of designed efforts to groom youths for the future.
On her part, Mrs Funmi Dayo, a businesswoman, describes poverty as a “virus” that had eaten deep into the lives of many Nigerians.
“The poverty situation in the country is biting hard on civil servants. All you hear everywhere is the cry of no money.
“For unemployed graduates, the situation is a disaster. This has caused an increase in all manner of crimes in the society.
“Government should tackle the menace of poverty urgently; government should inject money into the economy to enable the citizens, particularly the civil servants, to meet their needs.
“This is because an empowered worker will be in a position to render assistance to others who are not gainfully employed,” she adds.
Proffering solutions to the menace of poverty in the society, Dr Patrick Kormawa, the Country Representative of UN Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Nigeria, says industrial development is very vital to poverty eradication efforts in Nigeria.
He insists that poverty can only be reduced in any nation if its industrial sector is developed to provide employment for its citizens.
“You can only reduce poverty when you create employment and this has been the missing link in our development efforts.
“If you want people to have high income, increase their productivity and then, you will have growth. For a country to have growth, you have to develop the productive base of its economy; that is the industrial sector,’’ he says.
He says that UNIDO is contributing to efforts to reduce poverty and tackle hunger in Nigeria through the development of the productive sector of the country which deals with manufacturing.
Kormawa says that UNIDO and the Federal Government have initiated some skills’ development programmes to address skill gaps’ assessment problems among students in tertiary institutions in the country.
“Looking at the growth patterns in other countries, we see that growth is driven by a structural change to manufacturing and value-added services; but in Nigeria, growth has been driven by a commodity exports boom.
“This must change in the next 15 to 20 years if we are to be among the league of prosperous countries.
“The experience of Europe, the U.S., Japan, and China demonstrates how concerted efforts to build the manufacturing capacity and rapidly diversify the economy can spur economic growth, transformation and prosperity. Why can this not happen in Nigeria?
“Indeed, you can only reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Industry creates massive employment and this is a development paradigm that has been missing over the years,’’ he says.
Kormawa, however, concedes that as Nigeria builds its momentum towards industrial development, it will likely face some challenges, one of which will be the issue of industrial skills.  “For example, with a high percentage of its productive labour force unemployed and the incessant complaint of manufacturers and employers of not finding the right talent to fill a position, there seems to be an existing skills gap in the country,’’ he says. All in all, observers say all hands must be on the deck to end poverty in all its forms everywhere across the globe.
Sharang writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)