THE POVERTY OF THE POOR! Part 1
Public service and governance in Nigeria are often riddled with certain policies designed to cater to the yearnings of a few over the needs of the much larger populace. In such settings, the rich keep getting richer while the poor stay poorer.
Take our very megacities for instance; thousands of jobs and small-scale businesses that helped families stay afloat were lost while authorities moved to "build" these cities. Desperate for survival, these affected persons move to other states or settle at the outskirts of the city.
This was particularly evident in the making of every megacity in Nigeria. For instance, the nation's capital, Abuja in the 80s and 90s welcomed citizens from different parts of the country, each with a level playing field to explore opportunities for growth and success.
However, in no time, the Federal Government through the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai took steps towards reshaping and redesigning the city's outlook between 17th July 2003 to 27th July 2007. Though we can pride ourselves on these achievements, we should equally ask ourselves AT WHAT COST?
The more we see mega-cities grow, we should always have it at the back of our minds that such growth costs people something.
The time came when we wanted to beautify our cities and a certain mode of transportation needed to be phased out to achieve what we truly wanted. We saw the gradual extinction of motorcycle (okada) riders. This was a laudable move especially putting the risks associated with such a mode of transportation in urban cities into consideration. It is no gainsaying that the rate of accidents and crime spiked, giving more reasons to fizzle them out, AND YES WE DID. New regulations were introduced to that effect and the ban was enforced in some cities across the country.
Still, no one asked the million-dollar question of what these YOUNG ABLE MEN TOOK ON AS WORK AFTER THESE MEGA CITIES SENT THEM PACKING.
In these years we have seen an upward trend, where certain menial jobs go extinct and we keep growing in population, and yet our policymakers are not making policies that will ensure that the 100 million Nigerians said to be living in poverty are drawn out.
Have you ever stopped to wonder, what are the consequences of these moves on our nation's internal security?
Final Credit
Editor: Fawale Abdulahi
Story Brief on Strike : Chukwudumebi Nancy Odimegwu
Writer : Esther Isiaka
Pictures: Google Sourced
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