Poverty is the hallmark of underdevelopment (Akanbi, 2001). It is regarded as a condition where millions of people are hungry, malnourished, where there are high levels of illiteracy, unemployment and infantile mortality, a condition of poor infrastructural facilities and amenities. The social activist explain that poverty is a brutal denial of human right.Nigeria is one of the countries that is naturally blessed with human and material resources, yet poverty is observed among the people of rural and urban centers. Ogbulafor (2000) explains that Nigeria’s poor economic status is an embarrassment because the country has no reason to be counted among the poor nations of the world, since, it is blessed with abundant mineral resources like petroleum, gold, silver, coal lead, gravel, limestone etc.Onyesoh (1998) however, explain that poor political leadership has been one of causes of the continued fall in the standard of living and worsened condition of the poor since independence 1960. More importantly, some politicians’ ideology for independence according to Onyesoh is based on political greed, self ambition and anarchism while the comfort of the individual is little on the agenda of such leaders. As a result bribery and corruption, drug trafficking, embezzlement, unemployment, prostitution, rape and personal assault are on the increase.According to Ayagi (1990) corruption is pervasive that there is hardly any segment of the society that is free from this vice and the general public has come to accept corrupt practices as a way of life and as a part of our political culture.The effect of poverty is enormous on the child. Poverty as we all know has become endemic in our communities, both in the urban and rural areas and from all indications the child is at a disadvantage because of his or her dependence on the adult for sustenance, including access to basic needs and essential service. The inability of the adult to provide these basic need puts the child at the danger of the following.Malnutrition has a disturbing level among Nigerian children. The three main consequences of malnourishment in children are stunted growth which means the height of the child is below average for his age, wasting or advancement in height without the necessary corresponding increase in weight and underweight which refers to children who are below average weight for their age. A relevant data by Fos (1996) reveals that there is a high proportion of stunted and underweight children in Nigeria, whose daily intake of calories per capita fell from 2, 200.00 in 1992 to 2, 000 in 1995 and 1996. The figure depicts a disturbing level of malnourishment among Nigerian children. The rural areas were more negatively affected than urban areas.Teenage marriage which is attributed to cultural and socio-economic problems, has direct linkage with poverty. Nigeria has a high rate of female school dropouts. For example UNESCO (2000) reports that in 1995, 56.3% of boys completed primary school as against 43.7% girls. Most girls leave school due to inability to pay cost, distance or inaccessibility, religious factors, early marriage or sickness. When this is done, the next option they have is marriage. This type of marriage most times ends up in divorce, V.V.F and psychological stress because these girls are not biologically and psychologically mature for marriage.Stress 8 million of Nigerian children , which UNICEF describes as being involved in child labour may be going through some stress. Stress can be described as pressure, tension or worry resulting from problems in meeting the challenges of life. Stress is closely associated with anxiety, which is commonly experienced as general uneasiness, a sense of fore bearing and a feeling of tension. Stress per se is not a negative phenomenon (Agulanna, 1998).Moderate stress is said to be needed for actions necessary for adaptation in our changing world, but stress becomes detrimental when we have it in an overdosed form, which is disabling, disorganizing and disorienting (woodfolk, 1995, talent, 1988). The Nigerian child who is involved in child-labour is disabled when he has to take sometime off school, disorganized and anxious when he has to go up and down the streets and disoriented when he has to take up an adult’s responsibility of fending for himself and his family. All this calls for anxiety, anger, depression etc no wonder therefore, that we have been hearing of children with diseases such as hypertension, peptic ulcer etc. these are extensions of poverty.Child labour, an estimated 8 million Nigeria children are said to be trapped under the yoke of child-labour, while 3.2 million others were out of school, in spite of government’s efforts at stopping child-labour and ensuring the education of all children. The latest of UNICEF reveals that out of the estimated 8 million children in child labour, 67 per cent of the children are girls, “the largest population of out of school girls in sub-Saharan Africa” (Yakubu’s Punch 21st May, 2003). A lot of these girls are being trafficked to other countries for sexual exploitations, many others including boys are subjected to different kinds of abuses. Child-labour is a direct result of poverty.Powerlessness, according to Hetherington and Parke (1987) is a basic problem of the poor. In a more specific term the poor have less influence over the society in which they live and are likely to be less adequately treated by social organizations than members of the middle class.For instance, the poor receive poorer health and public services and they are more likely to have their individual rights violated by agents of the law or social workers or educators or the medical professionals. Subsequently, their lack of power and prestige and lack of educational and economic resources restrict the availability of options in most areas of the lives.According to Parke (1987) the poor are tragically vulnerable to disasters such as job loss, financial stress, and illness and they are subject to impersonal bureaucratic decisions in the legal system and in social institution such as welfare agencies.In view of these multifarious problems, poverty alleviation is a welcome idea in Nigeria. Every member of the community has to be dedicated and action packed for the needed success.There cannot but be a change or orientation, values, belief and aspirations in a place like Nigeria where poverty injustice, dishonesty, insensitivity to the plight of the common man and intolerant ethnic and religious practices are the order of the day. Therefore, a conscious and full fledged attempt must be made towards producing a new Nigeria.
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