One day, Jesus was invited to the house of a rich man, and while he was there, a woman came in and broke a box of alabaster containing a very expensive perfume, and she anoited him with it; according to the narrative, the perfume was worth a year’s wage. His disciples were infuriated because they felt that the precious ointment could have been sold, and the proceeds given to the poor. But Jesus replied them saying: “You will always have poor people with you.”
That statement was made more than 2000 years ago, but it remains true even in 2023 because the poor could be found in the richest country while the super-rich is also found in the poverty capital of the world – Nigeria. According to the US Census Bureau, 11.6 percent of America’s population, which is around 37.9 million people, live in poverty. But more interesting data is that of the homeless population in the US, EU, and the UK. The data from the online digital research firm Statista indicates that there are about 583,462 homeless people in the US; and according to Shelter, a Humanitarian Agency, there are about 274, 000 in England alone as of January 2023. In the EU, a 2020 report indicates that about 700,000 people sleep rough in member nations.

Even though Nigeria’s poverty situation is in mega proportions, and there is a clear dearth of accurate data, I doubt if the homeless population of the country is anywhere near that of the West in spite of the size of our population. How do I know this? In nearly all communities across the country, the only seemingly homeless people are mentally challenged. But they also have homes, if they choose to go in some cases. It sounds good. Yes, it is good news, but something sinister is happening. Even though the indigent amongst us have shelter, they have no food.
So why are Nigerians rushing to these places? Why has Japa gathered so much momentum in recent months? The answer is not farfetched. These countries have several layers of safety nets to support those who find themselves in dire straits. They have such programmes as the social security system, food stamps, soup kitchens, and shelters that open in the evenings where the indigent can come in, get a hot bath, dinner, and a place to lay their heads for the night. But in Africa and in Nigeria especially, our system is completely different. For us, charity begins at home; and we are our brother’s keepers. Our own social safety net is embedded in our extended family system. No family can afford to see members of their family destitute. There is always a family house somewhere or a relative with a property somewhere willing to offer accommodation, even on a temporary basis.

The same thing applies to financial support for feeding. In fact, there are some families where someone who has been financially lifted sees his wealth as a means to save especially elderly members of his/her family from destitution. Some have gone as far as including members of their extended family on their payrolls. Unfortunately, there are those in our various communities who have actually abandoned their aged parents to die of hunger or to live through alms from the public. There are also those, who even though they are immeasurably rich would use their wealth as a tool of oppression, rather than a means to uplift the poor and needy. This is the primary reason why the poor are more charitable than the rich. Most of them have been there, and they know what it means to go to bed with an empty stomach. But the cashless policy has made it nearly impossible to reach out to the poor according to their financial ability.

Most of the indigents in our society are financially excluded, which means that they have no bank accounts or captured in any of the platforms that give access to the financial system, like the Bank Verification Number (BVN), or the National Identification Number (NIM). Life has dealt some of them a very bad hand. Most of them did their best in their time, but today, most of them are aged and infirm. Some are blind, some are lame, many others are terminally ill, and all they ask for is daily bread, but charity has suffered a casualty.

In a state where cash has become a precious commodity, a state where N600 is sold for N400 in Port Harcourt, it has become extremely hard to drop that N50 or N100 hoping other charitable people would do the same to support the indigent. It is a state where workers are unable to go to work due to the lack of cash, even those who manage to go to work struggle to come back because the cashless crisis is actually a cashless pandemic.
I recently came across this anonymous quote that: “Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.” Our country is a case in point, where politicians continue to accumulate, even what they have no need for. They entomb themselves in their humongous mansions, built with our commonwealth which they stole while in public office, whereas health centres in poor communities have no drugs to dispense or any place where those who are down and out can go and eat at least one meal a day. But this should not come as a shock because most local government chairmen live and operate from big cities outside their local government headquarters. So how would they know if an indigent recently died out of starvation?

This past week, a neighbour related her encounter with an indigent lady who asked for food. When she took her to a buka (food vendor) on our street, with the plan to pay for a plate of rice for her, the lady further appealed to my neighbour that she would not mind eba (garri and soup) without meat. That singular appeal tells her life’s story in the face of the cashless crisis. It was possible she did not eat the previous day, and chances are that what is in front of her is an opportunity to eat her only meal for the day.

Interestingly, and to my shock, I am yet to see the hand of our mega Churches on the streets feeding the hungry. our Churches are conspicuously missing in action. Our Mega Churches are seating on billions of charity, flying in private jets bought with charity, whereas those for whose sake charity was given are dying of starvation. It ought not to be so.

By:  Raphael Pepple