POVERTY: THE BREEDING NEST FOR CRIME AND CRIMINALITY IN NIGERIA
Poverty entails more than just lack of stable income and productive resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood, Its effects include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. An anonymous scholar said " poverty is the parent of revolution and crime". Poverty rate in Nigeria is alarming, More than 82 million Nigerians live less than $1(#360) a day. According to the National Bureau of statistics NBS, thus, 40% of Nigeria's population lives in penury, this outrightly expose the appalling level of poverty in a country that is regarded as Africa's biggest economy.
The effects of poverty can affect a child as he grows into adulthood, leading to chronic illness and lack of education or the credentials to be gainfully employed. It is more than just missing a meal, It can make a child do and undo, which also leads them into making wrong decisions such as pick pocketing, robbery or even joining a terrorist group; terrorist group such as Boko Haram, Ansari and others groups that causes menace in the society which leads to social unrest. More so, it may lure them into committing various Cyber crime; the use of Internet to scam and defraud people ( 4.1.9 popularly known in Nigeria as Yahoo Yahoo) , Hacking and also stealing craftily. Incessant Kidnapping of high profile citizens in exchange for a hefty ransom, poverty may also make an individual vulnerable to petty stealing and even to the point of outright bugling and breaking into the neighborhood, to carter away with valuable properties. They engage in these dirty jobs so as to save themselves from pressures from peer groups and parents.
My Mother often say that "everything in this world happens for a reason " people are not just poor, there are reasons of them being poor. The following are the 5 major causes of poverty;
Poor Governance: Corruption has plagued the system of governance in Nigeria since the Colonialists left the shores of this country. Government officials take money that is meant for the development of the country and distributes it in smaller quantity into various bank accounts.
Lack of Economic Infrastructure: Basic infrastructure that supports economic growth at every level is essential to alleviating poverty in a sovereign state. In Nigeria, economic infrastructure includes; access to micro-credit that help farmers invest in their crops and entrepreneurs lift their businesses off the ground, Nigerians in rural settlements aren't given enough support by the government to get them adequately empowered.
Poor Health Care System: Nigeria may be the most populous country in Africa, but we lack adequate medical practitioners and state-of-the-art infrastructure to equip our ever dilapidating health care facilities nationwide. Improving Nigeria access to health care is an essential step to ameliorate the level of poverty in Nigeria, only a healthy body and mind can till the ground to grow crops and feed the nation.
Limited Access to Quality Education: Education equips people with various skills needed to enter the workforce and escape impoverishment. The limited access to quality education is one of the truly devastating causes of poverty in Nigeria. Currently, education is really expensive to acquire in Nigeria,There are over 10.5 million illiterates in Nigeria who lacks basic knowledge about various things which education helps to inculcate, 60% of this illiterate population are girls.
Over Population: Massive increase in uncontrolled birth rate is one of the leading causes of poverty in Nigeria. A poor father with no job , will have over 20 kids and still desire to have more , this makes the situation even worse .
Unemployment ; According to the National Bureau of statistics, less than 25% if Nigerian graduate get a meaningful job 3 years after graduation. The chances of getting employed and smiling to the bank monthly for good paycheck is really slim, and getting slimmer daily. The Government shouldn't rely on the private sectors to provide jobs for thousands of graduates yearly. A good investment system should be established and organised to help fresh graduates get employed, which will also help to stabilize the ever glittery and unstable economy.
We can not totally put a stop to poverty in Nigeria but we can reduce it significantly. According to a political satirist P.J Rourke said" you can't get rid of poverty by giving people money" , if you give people money they will come back over and over again asking for more. Bill gates once said "show people solutions to problems they would be moved to act" The following are some of the possible steps to adopt to alleviate poverty in Nigeria;
Improvement and Development of Educational infrastructures and system: Government should build more schools and help beat down the cost of education in Nigeria, by giving multiple scholarship and reducing tuition fees across various tertiary institution in the country, so as to help educate the poor Nigerians and make education affordable for the majority.
Empowerment and Skill development: People can become self dependent if they are given the opportunity to learn some skills. Various Empowerment and skill acquisition programmes should be organised from time to time to skill up the people and reduce unemployment rate.
Provision of Standard Social Amenities: Good roads, standard healthcare facilities, good water system, stable power supply and proper drainage system among many others, help to improve the standard of living of the people. An improved standard of living will generally contribute to the alleviation of poverty.
Employment Opportunities and Job Creation, Development rural area and investing adequately in the health sector will contribute massively to the growth and development of the nation and also curb the rate of crimes in the society.
