It was supposed to be a behind-the-curtain banter that ensued between Emmanuel Igboke and his talk show crew but, it soon blew up into detailed analytics of why poverty is a parasite that can’t be cured anytime soon. The actor who spoke from a place of irritation addresses the issue on poverty when he said “I have never understood when people take an economic situation and make a joke out of it. To me, it is the most barbaric and insensitive act anyone can do but, when a country declares itself bankrupt; that is a kind of dark humour you don’t see often”.
Sri Lanka declares itself bankrupt, a whole country, declaring itself bankrupt, throwing millions of citizens into the hands of – Lord, have mercy! The angry citizens invade the presidential villa and made a mess of the entire place but, that is not the topic at hand. What I am driving at is how a once resourceful country can have leaders pipe it till it totally bled out. This has to be decades with lacks of accountability, lackadaisical approach to the wealth generating source in the country, and no mental acuteness to create more source of wealth; just a bunch of block head, gathered around a table, digging down on the national treasure like it’s a buffet.
Does this ring a bell? Is this close to home? Because, looking inward, most countries are tilting in this direction as the level of inflation has hit an all-time high with fixed income earner gritting their teeth in horror. Everything is expensive! But why do things have to go all high I ask. I mean, there use to be a level of economic stability, a level we were used to decades before now so, who decided that the economy needed and upgrade without putting into consideration the overall level of people in the country?
According to the World Bank, the International Poverty Line refers to those who have less than 1.25 US dollars a day to live, and thus live on the very edge of existence. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sets various indicators in its Human Development Index (HDI) to measure poverty in Africa and all other countries in the world. This includes:
- life expectancy at birth
- average school attendance period
- expected school attendance period as well
- per capita income
As the indicators show, education is closely linked to poverty by the United Nations – because those who cannot read and write have little chance of getting a skilled job and build their livelihood.
Just incase you are wondering why ASUU strike has been going on for more than 100 days, there you have your answer.
It is no doubt that a lot of things are dying in most countries: things like education, crisis at an all time high, increase in population, illness with little or no basic amenities. This impoverished status has lashed itself to different economies causing a lengthy history of external, internal and man-made forces at work to bring about the circumstances this continent suffers from today.
So, you ask, how can poverty be curbed? Can it be curbed? Will it be curbed?
These questions lead to the conclusion that, maintaining and accelerating the momentum to repair different economies from decades of mishandling requires a deliberate and collective effort. However, in as much as we still have bloodsucking parasite, who changes form but still maintain the same metabolism, poverty is going to be END TIME we all fear.
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