Scotland-Yard security instructors would always remind students who pass through them that three critical sources of social instability and changes are: explosions in human population, aspirations and knowledge. Consequently there are bound to be scrambles for survival, in the process of which divisions and inequalities among humans would surely arise. Expectedly poverty would be a common feature in every society, even though this would be in relative terms. Also, poverty goes beyond lack of money and material necessities, but includes inferiority in integrity, ability and perception.
It is quite instructive to observe the ways and styles in which the Nigerian nation manages the issue of poverty, ranging from the distribution of national and natural resources, to the management of palliative and relief aids and materials. From the handling of COVID-19 Pandemic palliative measures, to current experiences in the dispensing of succour to cushion the sad effects of removal of subsidy on petroleum, the style and strategy are the same. Humans learn from every experience and the more traumatic the experiences the more far-reaching the knowledge acquired.
With a rapidly expanding human population, coupled with faster learning arising from sad experiences, humans would aspire to rise above restricting barriers and hindrances. Explosion in human aspirations would include not only trying to cope with threats to life, but striving to rise above such threats. Money being such a good soldier, capable of being deployed in every battle, means of acquisition of money would be the lines of aspiration of an individual. Who would want to remain a beggar while others own private universities, airlines and build 5-star hotels in every state?
Those who manage crimes and security issues would suggest that revenge motives feature in many acts of social insecurity. Fear of being left in the lurch and the humiliation of being regarded as a failure, drive many people into acts of desperation, which can include crimes. Crime rate builds up and becomes more vicious and audacious when petty crimes are punished with venom and serious ones get resolved through plea bargaining. In the case of oil theft, for example, are petty bunkerers the real barons and kings? They rarely know where the oil flows!
Social services as remedial measures to balance social imbalances; emphases are not placed on maintaining the status quo, but on current social challenges arising from unavoidable changes. Factors which bring pressures on the society include the explosions in population, aspirations and knowledge. One aspect of knowledge explosion does not arise from book learning, but internet culture, of which smart phone is a symbol. Nigerian leaders would hardly believe the volume of information available to the masses, via internet resources. One of such information is hypocrisy in high places wearing masks.
Abraham Maslow’s postulations that humans are motivated by certain basic needs, were balanced by Erikson’s “Eight Ages of Man”, with desires to resolve major issues at each developmental level. Therefore, governance as a social contract, requires understanding peoples’ psychological situations and humans as bio-psycho-social creatures who aspire and learn fast. Thus, the ability to intervene in people’s lives and situations must be constructive and honest, if mass confidence must be sustained. Promises of palliatives must not create value conflicts arising from class, political or ethnic differences. Biting need counts!
Whatever the circumstances that brought about abuses in fuel subsidy project, thus resulting in the removal of such subsidy, the helpless masses should not be the major bearers of the burdens. The practice of transfer of guilt makes the shenanigans of fuel subsidy removal and the attendant palliative regime more bitter and burdensome for the masses. When the distribution of palliative measures takes the form of sharing of loots, then the principle of justice comes to question. “All human beings, because they belong to the category of being human, must be treated in the same way”, so says the principle of justice.
There is also the Concrete Principle of justice which demands that the allocation of resources by government must give priority to meeting basic human needs, with food, clothing and shelter coming first. Fairness, justice and accountability in the allocation of palliative succour count as the measure of integrity and responsibility. Basic professional principle in social services delivery as defined by McSweeny, demands “fairness” especially as it relates to the possession and/or acquisition of the resources based on some kind of valid claim to a share of these resources.
In the past administration, colossal sums of money purportedly spent on feeding of school children were seen by a large section of Nigerians as empty claims, to say the least. Similar sly claims feature in every project of social services delivery, whereby the poorest of the poor who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of such largesse, rarely had anything to show for the claims made. Any effort or clamour to probe into allegations of malfeasance would usually end up like the forensic audit of the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Nigerians are now quite weary of any talk about probity.
With regard to the mounting opposition against the PDP Chairman in Rivers State being the head of a committee to administer subsidy removal palliative succour for Rivers State, grounds for such oppositions are quite germane. To give political or any partisan colouration to any social services delivery project, is to invite cynicism and possible obloquy to the management of such project. Nigerians are quite aware of possible abuses which political partisanship and patronage can bring about, even when no ill motive is intended in appointments of participants.
Basic social problem in poverty alleviation projects has to do largely with mindset, which translates partly into resignation and cynicism or lack of desire or ability in planning one’s life. Poverty is relative and varies with time and place and its causes can be traced to internal or personal factors, and external factors. Depressive mindset and inability in planning one’s life contribute towards poverty, but the structure of a nation’s political economy is a more devastating cause of large-scale poverty. The Nigerian style tends to perpetuate the status quo, whereby a possible means of breaking the poverty jinx is to become a desperado.
Ranging from joining the groups of ballot box snatchers, to engagement in numerous sharp practices involved in the distribution of relief materials and the sharing of loots, many Nigerians became rich and powerful through these and similar malfeasance. As population increases rapidly, and as scrambles for available resources become fiercer, aspirations of individuals rise higher, with knowledge towards making a headway in life advancing rapidly. Thus wealth grows, but men and integrity decay. What are the roles of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation?

By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.