Igba Ogbole

THE THREAT POSED BY THE WIDENING GAP BETWEEN THE

RICH AND THE POOR IN NIGERIA.

On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, the Senate of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria drew copious attention to the looming crisis over
the increasing rate of unemployment in the Country.

Following a motion sponsored by a former Deputy President of the

Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, entitled “Escalating Rate of
Unemployment in the Country”, the Senate raised alarm over the
unemployment challenge and called on the three tiers of
government to step up efforts to create jobs for the citizens.

Many have understandably questioned the sincerity of the Senators

in raising this alarm given that majority of them share, directly or
indirectly, in the responsibility for, and culpability in the nation’s
worrisome unemployment situation.

However, the alarm should be taken seriously by everyone

committed to promoting the well-being of this great country and its
citizens because the end product of unemployment is poverty,
hunger, anger and frustration.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the

national unemployment rate increased to twenty three point one
zero percent in the third quarter of 2018 from a yearly average of
twelve point three-one percent from 2006.

By this record, Nigeria occupies the position of the country with the
seventh highest unemployment rate in Africa after Congo, Namibia,
Angola, South Africa, Mozambique and Lesotho.

Though statistics about unemployment enjoys some measure of

fluidity and can change easily especially given that these data are
never promptly released in our clime, the record shows that urgent
comprehensive and daring steps need to be taken by government
and all stakeholders to defuse this time bomb.
The urgent need to address this scary level of unemployment is
predicated on the fact that it plays a very critical role in the nation’s
poverty level which is also reported to be growing at an alarming
rate.

According to a 2018 report by the World Poverty Clock, an

institution of the World Bank, about ninety million Nigerians, almost
half the population, are living in extreme poverty.

On its part, a non-governmental organisation committed to fighting

inequality and poverty, Oxfam International, reports that “Nigeria is
seen as Africa’s largest economy and one of the fastest growing in
the world; yet, more than half of the Nigerian population still
grapple with extreme poverty, while a small elite enjoys ever
growing wealth”.

The underlying factor behind the high rate of poverty in the midst of
stupendous national wealth is the faulty approach to the distribution
of the common wealth which encourages a few to live in
extravagant riches while the majority suffer abject poverty.

Unfortunately, when subjected to critical analysis, the wealth of

most of the super-rich is not entirely and exclusively the product of
any peculiar hard work or special intelligence which the poor do not
possess or apply to their own efforts.

Rather, the wealth enjoyed by most members of the small elite

group sprouted, grew and multiplied from the common wealth, and
their only advantage over the poor is that they have direct access to
the common till.

In a country where those fortunate to be gainfully employed are

fighting for a minimum wage of thirty thousand naira that an
average family cannot survive on for a week, a cursory look at the
salaries, allowances and other pecks of office of political appointees
and high public or private office holders across board will reveal the
stunning level of disparity between the rich and the poor.
The huge sums of money being recovered from corrupt Nigerians in
the on-going war against corruption is another evidence of how
wicked some people, blinded by their sickening greed, can be,
stealing the nation corrosively for the benefit of only themselves
and their families.

What befuddles the mind even more is why these stolen monies are
not invested in this country to at least generate employment and
living wage for the suffering heirs to this common patrimony. The
reality, for those who care to know and act, is that there is a
growing army of the unemployed, the poor who are frustrated and
disgusted with their state of being, and are likely to hold some
people responsible for their plight someday. The increasing cases of
armed robbery, ritual killings, militancy, cultism, prostitution and all
other forms of agitations are arguably the direct by-products of the
frustration of those who see no hope in the horizon.

With the number of graduates churned out of the Nation’s

institutions of learning annually, the sea of drop-outs and out-of-
school youths, the country is building a behemoth of agitated youths
capable of anything.

We therefore appeal, first to the Nigerian Senate, to prove that they

are indeed not playing to the gallery with their alarm on the rising
unemployment, by going the whole hug and taking measures,
including cutting down the cost of running the National Assembly,
and enactment of legislations that can assist the Executive tackle
the problem head on.

We commend the various poverty alleviation programmes of the

Federal Government, domiciled under the National Social
Investment Programmes, and urge it not only to sustain the
programmes but address their present hiccups and expand their
scope to cover more people.

We also commend the Government for its efforts in the recovery of

stolen funds under the anti-corruption war, and urge it to ensure
that the recovered funds are properly accounted for and invested in
job creation and poverty alleviation projects.
We equally urge the Federal Government to intensify efforts, such
as addressing the Nation’s power problem comprehensively, to
create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive so that
more jobs and wealth can be generated.

The State Governments which are in direct daily contact with the
citizens must also up their game in the area of job creation and
poverty alleviation as a deliberate measure to reduce the growing
poverty and number of unemployed youths in the various States.
The widening gap between the rich and the poor should not be
allowed to degenerate to a level where the rich, surrounded by a
sea of hungry, angry looking people, will become eternally scared of
openly enjoying their wealth.

As the curtain gradually draws on the year 2019, leaders at all

levels must take deliberate workable measures to tackle the
challenge of unemployment and poverty, which are indeed time
bombs that will spare no one, and should not be allowed to explode
in our faces.