There is the
general belief that most people who are in rural areas live in extreme poverty.

This may not be totally correct. But the
social conditions in the rural areas could make one think so.

Despite its natural resources  and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in
Nigeria. The situation has worsened since the late 1990’s to the extent that
the country is now considered as one of the twenty poorest countries in the
world.

Over 70 percent of the population is
classified as poor, with 35 per cent living in absolute poverty.

The people in rural areas are most
affected. Most of them are day labourers, subsistence farmers, herders and
migrant workers. They struggle to meet their basic needs everyday. The rural
dwellers suffer from hunger, ill-health, illiteracy, instability and low
self-esteem as well as marginalization from government.

Poverty is especially severe in rural
areas where social services and infrastructure are limited or non-existent. The
great majority of those who live in rural areas depend on agriculture for food
and income. They  cultivate tiny plots of
land for survival, and depend on rainfall rather than irrigation systems.

A high proportion of rural people suffer
from malnutrition and other diseases related to poor nutrition. The HIV/AIDS
pandemic has also taken a heavy toll among the rural population.

Rural poverty is a global phenomenon. It
is however, rampant in developing countries than in developed countries.

Rural poverty is often associated with
poor infrastructures that hinders development and mobility. Rural areas tend to
lack sufficient roads that would increase access to agricultural inputs and
markets. Without roads, the rural poor are cut off from all forms of
development, social, economic and technological.

Poor infrastructure hinders
communication, resulting in social isolation of the rural poor, many of whom
have limited access to media and news outlets. Such isolation hinders
integration within urban society.

Moreover, poor or non-existent
irrigation system threatens agricultural yields because of uncertainty in the
supply of water from crop production.

Rural development has long been neglected
in Nigeria. Investments in health, education and water supply have largely been
concentrated in the cities. As a result, the rural population has extremely
limited access to safe drinking water, good roads, good health systems, among
others.

Even though most of the consumable items
come from the rural areas, lack of good roads constitutes problem to free
movement of food from the rural areas to the urban centres. This usually forces
the prices of foodstuffs upward.

As the population swells and puts pressure
on diminishing resources, escalating environmental problems further threaten
food production. Land degradation as a result of extensive agriculture,
deforestation and overgrazing, is already at an alarming level in many parts of
the country most especially in the North.

It is obvious that the rural dwellers
suffer a lot and government should see to their needs by providing the
necessary social amenities that would improve their standard of living.

I believe strongly that if poverty is
reduced to its barest minimum, ethnic tensions that continue to brew in
different parts of Nigeria, leading to state insecurity will abate.

It should be noted that the move towards
political liberalization has made militants from religious and ethnic groups to
express frustrations more freely and with increasing violence that claims
thousands of lives.

In Niger Delta, which is the hub of oil
industry, oil theft and bunkering, vandalisation of oil pipeline and other
dastardly acts have become the order of the day. A number of acts of sabotage
have been carried out against the multinational oil companies by groups seeking
a greater share of the oil resources. All these menace usually arise out of
frustration and poverty.

Prisca is a student of Mass
Communication, RSUST, Port Harcourt.