Nigeria as the Poverty Headquarters of the World: Implications for Her National Development and Relationship with External World

Nigeria as the Poverty Headquarters of the World: Implications for Her National Development and Relationship with External World

Dr Pally Ejime Agidi PhD

Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Delta, Agbor, Nigeria

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.701038

Received: 26 October 2023; Accepted: 30 October 2023; Published: 30 October 2023

ABSTRACT

Nigeria is an African country located on the Gulf of Guinea with many landmarks and wildlife reserves. She is blessed with arable land, natural resources and human capital. Before independence in 1960, Nigeria depended on Agriculture as her mainstay. She was exporting agricultural products and feeding her citizens from agriculture which also provided employment for a large number of her populations. However, when crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in the late 1950s, Nigeria began to earn high revenue from crude oil which became her major source of earning foreign exchange. Nigeria began to neglect agriculture and its products as areas of revenue earning, making her mono-economy in nature. The citizens became uninterested in engaging in agriculture for employment. Steady increase in the populations especially in the urban areas outrageously led to continuous rise in poverty of the citizens in Nigeria. This situation continues to slow down her developmental efforts and also affects her relationship with the external world. This occasioned the reasons why Nigeria is being described as the poverty headquarters of the world. This has provoked several questions on how Nigeria that is supposed to be the giant of Africa, found herself in the present situation of being the poverty headquarters of the World. This study therefore investigated Nigeria as the poverty headquarters of the world and its implications for her national development and relationship with external World, focusing on the concept of poverty, National development, the indices of a poor nation and the characteristics of Nigeria economy. The study is a qualitative research that relied on secondary source of data and anchored on dependency theory as its theoretical framework of analysis. The study revealed that the poverty nature of Nigeria as a nation has overbearing implications for her national development and her relationship with the external world. The paper therefore recommended that Nigeria should strategically reduce corruption to the barest minimum and initiate good policies that can reduce poverty in the long- run. There is need for effective monitoring of public finances and diversification of economic activities from mono-resource economy so as to create opportunities of empowerment for Nigerians.

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria, a third world country in Africa, was declared as the poverty capital of the world in 2018 in a report by the Brookings Institute, ahead of India. The nation just exceeded India with the largest rate of people living in extreme poverty. In Nigeria, about 86.9 million people live in severe poverty, which is about 50% of its entire population. While the nation is smaller both geographically and in terms of population, it is failing at lowering the rates of poverty. This is partly due to the mismanagement of the oil business and the presence of corruption. Along with this, the nation is going through a population boom, which makes managing poverty rates more difficult. A total of 133million people classed as multidimensional poor. The World Poverty Clock (2023) has further confirmed Nigeria as the poverty headquarters of the World stating that about 71million people are living in extreme poverty in Nigeria today. One of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals is to end extreme poverty by 2050. However, Nigeria’s poverty rates are currently going in the wrong direction. This has continued to slow down the development efforts and the ways the other nations of the world associates with her. This paper therefore examines Nigeria as the poverty headquarters of the world and its implications on her national development and relationship with the external world.

CONCEPTUALIZATION POVERTY

The concept of poverty has been defined severally by many scholars and authorities at different time from different context and perspectives. It could be from the context of individuals, family, community, institution, a nation or a geographical region. Poverty is as old as mankind but it is naturally very dynamic as it has changed over time. In a simple form, it is seen as a state of having few material possessions or little income. Wikipedia (2015) define poverty as the lack of basic human needs such as clean water, nutrition, healthcare education, clothing and shelter because of the inability to afford them. Yakes (2004) noted that poverty could be seen as a situation whereby an income below which families would find it difficult to live without serious problems and which would place them in real danger when faced with any sort of economic crisis such as a sick child or an injury at work.  It could be seen as a state of not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. Poverty further refers to lack of adequate financial resources such that individuals’ households and entire communities don’t have the means to subsist or acquire the basic necessities for a flourishing life. It is also a state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty exists when people lacks the means to satisfy their basics. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. Poverty could be evaluated from two angles, the absolute poverty compares income against the amount needed to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter and the relative poverty which manifests when a person cannot meet a minimum level of living standards, compared to others in the same time and place. The identification of relative poverty varies from one country to another or from one society to another. Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place across time, and has been described in many ways.  Usually, poverty is a situation that people would not want to experience rather people works to avoid. Therefore, poverty is a phenomenon that involves both the poor and the wealthy alike to change the world so that more people will have enough to eat, get adequate shelter, have access to education and health, protection from violence, and a stake in the activities of where they live.

According to Solley (2005) the term poverty is understood objectively rather than subjectively.  Solley went further to espouse that individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or are at least widely encouraged or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family that they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, customs and activities. Generally, poverty portents lack, deprivation and denial. The aggregate of individual poverty makes up the national poverty. In other words, when the large numbers of the populace are poor in a country, it therefore stands that the entire nation will be poor. Because about 90 million out of the 200 million people in Nigeria are living below the poverty line, Nigeria is seen and describe as the poverty headquarters of the world.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The concept of Development has attracted huge attention in political science discourse especially when discussing issues patterning to the third world countries. In most cases, it is seen as growth or changes in various spheres. According to Ake (1989) development is the process whereby people create and recreate themselves and their life circumstances to realize higher levels of civilization in accordance with their own choices and values. Ake’s definition focused on the level of individual development, which aggregates to make the national development.  Todaro & Smith (2009) referred to development as a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and national institutions as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality and the eradication of poverty. They further emphasized that development must represent the whole gamut of change by which an entire social system, turned to the divers basic needs and desire of individuals and social groups within that system, moves away from a condition of life regarded as materially and spiritually better. Adeyemo (2003) defined development as a process in which a system or institution is transformed into a stronger, more organized, more efficient and effective form and proves to be more satisfying in terms of human wants and aspirations. Olaniyi ( 2009) opined that development is a process of societal advancement where improvements in the well being of people are generated through partnership between all sectors of the population, the public and private sectors, corporate bodies and other groups in the society.

National Development refers to the improvement of all aspects of the life of an individual and the nation. It is the capacity for a nation to enhance its citizen’s standard of living, which stands as an indicator of the nation’s level of development. It is a process of reconstruction and development in various dimensions of a nation and development of individuals in the nation which includes full growth of industries, agriculture, and education, social, religious and cultural institutions. Moreover, national development implies development of a nation as a whole. National development can simply be defined as the general and even development of the different aspects of the nation comprising of the political, economic, social, cultural, scientific and material spheres.

National development could be seen as the overall improvement of the welfare of the people especially the persons with the lowest income, the eradication of mass poverty with its correlates of illiteracy, disease and early death, changes in the composition of inputs that generally include shift in the underlying structure of production away from agricultural towards industrial activities. (Kindleberger & Herrick, 1987). It is the total effect of all citizen forces and addition to the stock of physical, human resources, knowledge and skill. National development is the capacity of the country to raise the standard of living of its residents. It can be achieved by providing individuals with basic livelihood requirements and supplying them with employment, etc. Development is a process that creates growth, brings in progress and positive change..

According to Umuru, (2002) National Development is associated with modernization, material advancement, industrialization, scientific and technological progress, the emergence of nuclear energy, electronic and biological revolution, new knowledge about man and the universe. It means urbanization, socio-cultural transformation, mass literacy, vertical and horizontal mobility, employment opportunities and the emergence of specialized and independent occupational roles (Umuru, 2002).

Dependency theory and Nigeria as a poor nation

The dependency theory connotes that resources flow from the poor countries to the wealthy countries thereby enriching the rich countries.  It means that poor states are impoverished and the rich ones are enriched by the way the poor states are attached to the rich states. Dos Santos ( 1970) posited that is a situation in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected. The theory simply states that the poor nations are poor because they continue to depend on the rich nations and that the poor states will continue to be poor except they delink from the rich nations. According to Ahiakpor (1985), the theory was officially developed in the 1960s following World War II in search of ways to explain the lack of development in Latin America. Dependency theory is very appropriate to explain why Nigeria has been a poor country and classified as the poverty headquarters of the world. Nigeria as a country is poor because lacks productivity but depends on importations of many goods and services for her economy. Nigeria has remained a consumption country without producing anything.

Characteristics of Nigeria Economy

The Nigeria economy is visibly underdeveloped and dependent with so many obstacles which has impeded on her development. At independence in 1960, agriculture contributed about 63.4% to the GDP, while 80% of the population was engaged in agriculture and 85% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings came from the export of agricultural produce which covered farm produce, wood and livestock products ( Obikeze & Obi, 2017).  When Nigeria witnessed oil boom in the 1970s, the population that engaged in agriculture started sliding down as well as is contributions GDP. By 1980, Agriculture has maintained its downwards slide with less than 25% of GDP and 4.5% of export earnings. The contributions of petroleum rose to about 14.6% in 1970 and jumped to about 27% in 1979.  Since then, foreign exchange earnings emphasis has been shifted to petroleum making Nigeria a mono-resource economy. As a result of the above, the Nigerian economy has been characterized by several factors amongst which are the following.

High rate of Unemployment: Unemployment is a major characteristic of the Nigerian economy and a factor contributing to poverty in Nigeria. There is a strong correlation between unemployment and poverty. When people are unemployed, their source of livelihood depletes over time. The cost of living becomes high and the standard of living goes down. There are many people in Nigeria who lack the opportunity of being employed. The formal unemployment rate in Nigeria as estimated by the World Bank in 2007 was 4.9 percent and Nigeria ranked 61st across the world countries (CIA Fact book).   In  2016, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts the total rate of unemployment in the second quarter at about 13.3%, while the total youth unemployment stood at 24%.

As reported by Teshome (2008), the then newly released African Development Indicators report of the World Bank showed that education, once seen as the surest, undisputed gateway to employment, no longer looks so certain. This is very true in the case of Nigeria. The fact that you are an educated Nigerian is no guarantee that you will be employed.

Systemic Corruption

Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Okowa (1989) defined system corruption as a situation whereby corruption has been institutionalized and raised to the level of a structural parameter and has become part of the culture of the society. Corruption in Nigeria has become so pervasive to such an extent that no sector is free it.  This has become a common act in Nigeria and it has destabilized the political system drastically. Government funds are being misappropriated on a daily basis by the leaders, who only put the interest of their family and friends at heart while ignoring the masses. Corruption has eaten so deeply into the government and economy that everyone seems to be blinded by it. Corruption has almost become an accepted way of life in Nigeria. In (2015) Nigeria was rated the 32^nd most corrupt country in the world out of the 168 countries surveyed. According to Akpakpan (1994) the problem of corruption is so deep rooted and widespread in our society that many people now tend to accept it as a norm. You are expected to do it and people lobby for offices and posts mainly to have opportunity to do it. The stealing of public funds by whatever means had the effect of intensifying the society’s socio-economic problem.

In Nigeria, the government’s income is generated mostly from natural resource revenues. This income, instead of being used for developmental purposes, is then circulated among the political office holders and their families through corruption, leaving the rest of the people to wallow in poverty and makes Nigeria as a country to remain in the condition of poverty.

Furthermore, it has been observed that in Nigeria, unbridled corruption has led to bad governance. Corruption and mismanagement swallow about 40 percent of Nigeria’s $20 billion annual oil income (Ribadu 2006). Corruption disrupts the capital flow throughout entire developing nations. Tax income is generally far below what the government requires in order carrying out basic services in corrupt nations. Corruption also stunts international trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) increases impediments on trade if a country maintains an out-of-control level of corruption, or extortion. If a developing nation attempts to deal with these problems, the WTO will decrease the impediments, giving the nation incentive to reduce skyrocketing corruption levels. Corrupt practice in Nigeria as a result of weak government has negatively affected the national development of this country.

Other specific negative consequences of corruption in Nigeria are: loss of much needed revenue; decrease in the level of Foreign Direct Investment and loss of viable businesses by Nigerian banks. Corruption diminishes national prestige and respect, leads to brain drain, civil arrest, business failure and unemployment, election rigging, absence of law and order, and failure of government institution (Ribadu, 2006). Most Nigerians are treated with suspicion in most business dealings thereby making some honest Nigerians to suffer the stigma of corruption due to stereotyping. Ribadu (2006) opined that, corruption is worse than terrorism because it is responsible for perpetual collapse of infrastructure and institutions in Nigeria; it is the cause of the endemic poverty and underdevelopment and cyclical failure of democracy to take root

Mono-resource and over Dependence on oil

Nigeria government has over the years practically depends heavily on only petroleum sector as her major source of income and ignored other sectors. The non-oil sector of the economy suffers neglect causing abject poverty on the people and making the country to be poor. This dependency on natural resources is often referred to as Dutch disease, whereby natural resources make a country less competitive. Excluding the few working in the oil sector, the majority of the people have been impoverished as their products have become irrelevant. The agricultural sector, which was their major means of income before the discovery of oil, is considered almost useless. This has been the genesis of how Nigeria became poor to the extent of being classified as the poverty headquarters of the world.

Non egalitarian and Inequality in the distribution of income

Nigeria is characterized with inequality in the distribution of her common wealth.. Inequality implies a concentration of a distribution, whether one is considering income, consumption or some other welfare indicators or attributes (Oyekale, Oyekale and Adeoti, 2007). There was an increase in income disparity after the economic growth which Nigeria experienced between1965-1975, and this income inequality has increased the dimension of poverty in the country. Wealth is highly polarized in Nigeria as a small group of the population is extremely wealthy while a large part of the population remains in abject poverty.  The issue of inequality in Nigeria could also be seen from geographical perspective. There is notable dichotomy between the income levels, facilities and opportunities for self advancement of the people in rural and urban areas in Nigeria.  Those who live in the rural areas, base all their income on agriculture which has not been thriving well in Nigeria because oil has taken over the economy. They do not invest their money to acquire skills as people in the urban areas would and this makes them more vulnerable to poverty.

Insecurity

Insecurity in Nigeria is a major problem in the country. Many Nigerians can no longer go to their businesses or travel as a result of insecurity in the country. The Agricultural sector is highly affected by the prevailing insecurity situation in Nigeria. Farmers can no longer go their farms to plant or harvest, thereby rendering them poor and further making the country to be poor.

Other characteristics of the Nigerian economy could be located in the followings Neglect of Agriculture High rates of inflation Heavy External debt burden Poor attitude to work in the public sector Excessive government intervention in the economy Dependent on foreign sources for raw materials Low productivity and low per capita income

Implications of Nigeria as poverty Headquarters of the World on her National Development and Relationship with external world

The rising profile of poverty in Nigeria is assuming a worrisome dimension as empirical studies have shown. Nigeria, a sub-Saharan African country, has at least half of its population living in abject poverty (Ojo, 2008). Similarly, the publication of the Federal Office of Statistics (1996) reveals that poverty has been massive, pervasive, and engulfs a large proportion of the Nigerian society. Abiola and Olaopa (2008) state that the scourge of poverty in Nigeria is an incontrovertible fact, which results in hunger, ignorance, malnutrition, disease, unemployment, poor access to credit facilities, and low life expectancy as well as a general level of human hopelessness.

Nwaobi (2003) asserts that Nigeria presents a paradox. The country is rich, but the people are poor. As noted by Omotola (2008), Nigeria is richly endowed and the country’s wealth potentials manifest in the forms of natural, geographical, and socioeconomic factors. With this condition, Nigeria should rank among the richest countries of the world that should have no business with extreme poverty. Okpe and Abu (2009) remarked that Nigeria has witnessed a monumental increase in the level of poverty with poverty level that stood at 74.2 percent in the year 2000.

Looking at the records from the Federal Office of Statistics, Garba (2006) reveals that about 15 percent of the population was poor in 1960; the figure rose to 28 percent in 1980 and, by 1996, the incidence of poverty in Nigeria was 66 percent or 76.6 million people. Garba (2006) equally remarks that the UN Human Poverty Index, in 1999, placed Nigeria among the 25 poorest nations in the world. According to the UNDP (2010), the population in poverty is given as 68.7 million, as of 2004. This is a very tragic situation when one considers the fact that Nigeria has had over $300 billion in oil and gas revenues since independence (Awa, 1983). Awa further rumbles that up to 95 percent of this great wealth is controlled by about .01 percent of the population. It is amazing to note that various poverty alleviation strategies have been adopted by successive governments in Nigeria, but their level of social impact leaves much to be desired. Observers have unanimously agreed that these programs have failed to achieve the objectives for which they were established, hence Nigeria have continued to be poor to the extent of being the poverty headquarters of the world.

Nigeria’s relationship with the external world since her independence is focus on Africa as the centre piece of her foreign policy. Agidi (2020) noted that Nigeria has maintained a hegemonic position in African region by observing some basic principles such as African unity and independence, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-alignment and non interference in the internal affairs of other nations and regional economic cooperation’s and development. Nigeria as a nation has been relating with the external world in the following ways, establishment and promotion of bilateral relationships with other nations, peaceful settlements of disputes, participating in peace keeping operations, establishments of mission abroad, granting other nations the right to establish their missions in Nigeria, promoting cultural, sporting, educational, trade ties, hosting of regional and sub-regional summits and conferences and caring for refugees.

The internal policies and conditions of a nation, determines how her relationship with other nations will be directed. This means that the way she will relate with the external world if she is rich will not be the same if she is poor. To a very large extent, the quality of leadership of a country determines the richness and poverty of the country. Nigeria like many other underdeveloped countries has a large and growing population of poor and unemployed citizens, many of whom have few choices other than economic activities that endangered the environment and makes it poorer. Within the last few years, heightened social insecurity in Nigeria has arguably fuelled the crime rate, leaving unpalatable consequences for the nation’s economy and its growth. The socio-political and economic landscape in Nigeria has been blighted by the endemic twin evil of crime and violence leading to poverty.

The effects of poverty on national security and development can be explained in the fact that it tends to limit the capacity of the people to harness the resources that will improve their living conditions. Therefore, their economic activities have continued to dwindle. The impact is seriously felt in all the sectors of the economy. Since farmers in Nigeria lacks the appropriate technology, updated skills, modern technology, capacity building, innovative techniques, tools, lack of capital to invest in this sector, there will be weak economy of the nation, with the end point being endemic poverty.  If Nigeria remains in a perpetual state of poverty, her relationship with the external the external had been affected in terms of reduction bilateral trade volume, low tourism attraction, low educational exchange, reduction of military training abroad, refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to fight insurgents, low foreign investments and bad image abroad.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this paper, the following recommendations are made:

1. Nigerian government should reduce the cost of governance to the barest minimum. This will help to save a lot of money that could be used to provide social amenities and services with the aim of attracting both local and foreign investors that can turn the economy around positively and move Nigeria away from being a poverty nation.
2. There is need for government to restructure every sector to include political, social and economic sectors. This will help to reduce poverty and delist her from being the poverty headquarters of the World.
3. Provision of basic infrastructure and efficient services is important as a way of eradicating poverty. It is not enough to provide basic infrastructure but putting mechanism in place for quality maintenance in place is also very important.
4. Nigerian government should invest in human development as a means of increasing her productivity in various sectors. This will upgrade the standard of living generally in the country and help in eradicating poverty.
5. There is need to bridge the gap between the few rich people and the huge poor masses in Nigeria. Government should initiate policies that will help to close the gap of socio-economic disparity that has aided poverty in the Nigeria.
6. Nigeria should fight corruption headlong without fear or favour which will help to reduce the level of poverty across the country.
7. It is important for Nigeria to move away from mono-resource economy prism of depending predominantly on oil and embark on diversification agenda of the economy. Harnessing the available opportunities accrued from other sectors of the economy will help to eradicate poverty and pave way for prosperity. This will help to create opportunities for Nigerians and ensure stability of the economy.
8. Policies that will help to create employment for the masses should be initiated. This will help in eradicating poverty and raise the standard of living in nigeria generally.
9. Education can play a major role in reducing poverty. According to the World Bank, education is central to development. It promotes economic growth, national productivity and innovation, and values of democracy and social cohesion. In Nigeria, the population with no education account for most of the poor. The education system in Nigeria can be regarded as a failure compared to other countries in the world. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to an education. This right to education has been denied to many Nigerians, of which many of them can be considered invisible to the society now. This deprivation of education applies more to females than males, because they are considered the inferior sex. Hence educating them is seen as unnecessary as they are expected to marry as early as possible. This has been in play or occurrence as a result of weak economy of Nigeria thereby truncating her national and creating poverty in Nigeria..

CONCLUSION

The study examines Nigeria as the poverty headquarters of the world and its implications on her relationship with the external world focusing on the meaning of poverty, the characteristics of Nigerian economy and Nigeria as a poor nation. The paper anchored on the dependency theory as its theoretical framework of analysis. The paper revealed that several factors such as corruption, neglect of Agricultural sector, high unemployment, mono-resource economy, inequality in the distribution of income, dependency on foreign products among others characterized the Nigerian economy leading to her state of poverty.

It is apparent that Nigeria is passing through a turbulent period characterized by high level of poverty and many other challenges with their attendant effects on national development. The paper is of the opinion that the greatest threats to national development in Nigeria and her relationship with the external world is the poverty of the people and the nation.

The paper concluded that, national development and cordial relationship with the external world can be achieved by Nigeria, only if poverty is combated. This entails that if poverty is allowed to prevail in Nigeria, then the dream of sustainable national development and national stability will be a mirage.

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