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Introduction

Welcome to class. Last we talked about national unity and integration. We learned that the term "unity, corporation and integration" can be used pari-pasu. The need for national unity was discussed as well as problems of national unity and integration.

And today, we will be discussing another interesting topic.

What is poverty?

Poverty sets in when people can no longer provide the basic necessities of life, that is when the resources of individuals or families, such as money and other basic necessities needed to make life worth living, like food, water and shelter are not enough to provide an acceptable standard of living for the individual or family, we conclude that they are poor. Poverty is being poor and not able to provide our needs. A poor man is exposed to risks of hunger, malnutrition, disease, and other evils associated with poverty. Majority of the people living in poverty are illiterates.

Source homeless man living in abject poverty

Some people live in abject poverty. This is a condition that is difficult to reverse due to illiteracy and lack of skills for gainful employment. There are some whose poverty condition comes as a result of environmental problems like flood, disaster, drought, or a violent wind, unemployment, etc. These conditions can be reversed with time.

CAUSES OF POVERTY

Some of the causes of poverty
(i) Level of skills
(ii) Extended family system
(iii) Inadequate resources and patterns
of distribution.
(iv) Spending habits.
(v) Level of literacy
(vi) Untapped natural resources
(vii) Environmental problems.

(i) Level of skills: Level of skills
acquired by people determines whether such people are poor or not. We have skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. Skilled and semi-skilled workers include professionals like lawyers, teachers, doctors, engineers, mechanics, pharmacists, accountants, artists, etc, while unskilled workers consist of messengers, servants, labourers, bus conductors etc. the unskilled workers are usually poor.

(ii) Extended family system: This is a situation whereby people extend responsibilities to other relations apart from their immediate or nuclear families. Such other relations include uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, etc. This pattern of behaviour is in Africa. Africans recognize and help their relations who are poor. In Europe and other first world countries (developed) such as Britain, USA etc this pattern of behaviour is foreign to them. They do not show hospitality to that extent; they only concentrate on their immediate families. Countries that practise this extended family system usually live in poverty - such countries are filled with poor people because if a nation is poor, it is citizens who will also be poor. A country that is over-populated is always poor when compared with countries that put their population in check.

(ii) Inadequate resources and patterns of distribution: For countries to have a balanced economy, both natural and human resources of the country should be at balance and their distribution when a country has less of either human equittable, depending on natural resources, while others have on population. But then in abundance, the country may not be able to take care of its citizens. On the other hand, when these resources are available and the pattern of distribution is wrong, making the larger population control less of these resources and the smaller population have greater
percentage of the resources of the nation under their control, this will result in having a greater number of the citizens of the country live in poverty. Examples are Nigeria and some other developing countries.

(iv) Spending habits: Some people spend their hard-earned money extravagantly. Such people spend their resources on useless and unimportant things instead of saving for the future. Even when they invest, they invest poorly. The spending habit of people in most cases make them live in poverty.

(v) Level of literacy: The level of literacy of most people makes them poor. Some people do not know how to read and write. Some who attend school did not complete. Those who did complete their education were not interested in studying when they were in school. As a result, they could not attain the level of literacy that would let them say "Bye bye" to poverty. Any person who is well educated must find a good job or anything positive to do that would remove poverty in his/her life.

(vi) Untapped natural resources: Due to lack of knowledge, many countries have natural resources that have not been tapped. These resources that are still at their virgin stage need to be exploited for the countries to be rich. But due to lack of technical know-how, they could spend their scarce money to import technical assistants and pay them hardsomely to do this for them, thereby worsening their condition. Some may not even know they have these resources, and, as a result, they still live in poverty.

(vii) Environmental problems: Some people are poor due to problems that emanate from their environment. There are some natural disasters that have rendered many people poor in different parts of the world, such as floods, drought, earthquakes, erosion, etc. Apart from natural disasters, other causes of poverty include corruption in political offices, such as embezzlement, money laundering etc; war, fire accidents, etc. Many people in different parts of the world have been unfortunate because of these problems and still live in poverty.

CONSEQUENCES OF POVERTY

(i) Poverty prevents a person from attending higher institutions of learning, thereby preventing him from securing a good paid job.
(ii) It robs the poor of the opportunity of self-development.
(iii) Poverty leads to crimes such as drug abuse/trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, touting and thurgery, armed robbery, etc.
(iv) Poverty leads to malnutrition, sickness, lack of accommodation (homelessness), and poor or inadequate clothing.
(v) Poverty relegates people (the poor) to the background during the delibration of matters that affect them.
(vi) Poverty promotes illiteracy.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION STRATEGIES

Every government of a nation wants
poverty to be alleviated in its country; and poverty can be alleviated by ensuring improved standard of living in the form of:
(i) Creation of good job opportunities,
(employment opportunities).
(ii) Provision of basic necessities of life, e.g., food, water, shelter, education, good health-care delivery, electricity supply, building good roads, etc.

Education can be made free for all citizens of a country. For instance, the government of Nigeria has introduced UBE- Universal Basic Education-from primary one to Junior Secondary School Three (lower and upper basic education); that is free education from Primary One to Junior Secondary School, Three; and has embarked on many poverty alleviation programmes such as:

NAPEP - National Poverty Eradication Programme: This programme is aimed at encouraging members of the society to take up ownership of small businesses to help them create wealth.

There are other government programmes such as:
NEEDS - National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy.
SEEDS - State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy.
LEEDS - Local (government) Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy.

The above programmes of NEEDS, SEEDS, and LEEDS emphasize on skill acquisition and development at national, state, and local government levels that would enable the beneficiary to be self- reliant. Also, small businesses are approved for the members of society, and money or material is given to them to help create wealth. The government uses NDE 1 National Directorate of Employment as established to alleviate poverty through employment. The above programmes are still functioning in my country, Nigeria, today to help alleviate poverty in different parts of the country. The government should provide an enabling environment for teaching and learning by improving the condition of service of teachers to encourage and motivate them to teach effectively.

Make sure that corruption is put to rest by its citizens to enable workers to be committed and dedicated so as to achieve their aims or goals. Things should be done by merit, not by favouritism. When a business environment that is devoid of corruption is provided by the
government and job opportunities created, opportunities for skill acquisition by the youths of any nation created, good working environment put in place, encouragement and motivation in form of reward for hardwork provided to a large extent, the poverty situation of any country will become reduced to the bearest minimum.

Conclusion

There are many things we can do to reduce poverty as individual and as government.
I believe you all benefited from this article. See you in class next week.

Regards
@udyliciouz