SCUUP takes a look at the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria, as a result of government’s inability to institute a sustainable social security scheme as it is being done in most of the oil-rich countries, 54 years after the country’s independence from colonial rule.
A protesting citizen.
Nigeria, once upon a time, the giant of Africa, is today, seen by global watchers, many of its citizens and residents alike as a mother, who finds it hard to feed her children, even in the midst of abundance. This is an albatross!
Nigeria with a population estimated to be over 170 million, is the world’s biggest Black Country, well endowed in natural resources, especially crude oil which makes it one of the richest oil producing countries of the world. Notwithstanding, the quality of life of its citizens has declined significantly in the last 30 years.
The country’s Federal Office of Statistics also attests…
SCUUP takes a look at the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria, as a result of government’s inability to institute a sustainable social security scheme as it is being done in most of the oil-rich countries, 54 years after the country’s independence from colonial rule.
A protesting citizen.
Nigeria, once upon a time, the giant of Africa, is today, seen by global watchers, many of its citizens and residents alike as a mother, who finds it hard to feed her children, even in the midst of abundance. This is an albatross!
Nigeria with a population estimated to be over 170 million, is the world’s biggest Black Country, well endowed in natural resources, especially crude oil which makes it one of the richest oil producing countries of the world. Notwithstanding, the quality of life of its citizens has declined significantly in the last 30 years.
The country’s Federal Office of Statistics also attests to the fact that over 67 million Nigerians now live in poverty, unlike in 1980 when the figure stood at only 18 million.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Nigeria, last reported at $1452.09 in 2011, according to a World Bank report published in 2012, is considered extremely low for an oil-producing country, making it the only Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) member country enlisted among the world’s poorest 20 countries.
Similarly, the findings of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) after a study it conducted on the poor people in their different localities categorised Nigeria as a poor nation not minding its oil wealth.
For instance, the study describes the poor as a set of people who “live in areas served by bad roads, or even with no passable roads and lack access to productive inputs as well as output markets.
They have children in poor households that cannot afford school uniforms, fees, and transport costs; who sell firewood, carry load in markets and hawk ready-to-eat food and other commodities and are likely to be female-headed families, widows, single mothers, the elderly and children.” These are the attributes of many Nigerians at 54 years of nationhood, especially those who still live in rural areas.
So, separating the few privileged from the mass, it is as if the majority wallows in poverty, in an oil-rich nation, while it is only the few, mostly the government cabal, their friends and cronies that seem to be enjoying the common wealth of the nation.
Nigerians have though called for a reversal of the situation, but it still doesn’t look as if a change for better is imminent. And just as the country’s political leadership seeks solution to the national security challenges, it keeps making groping effort to catch up with the global living standard, yet, the life expectancy of Nigerians keeps falling day by day.
As of today, the life expectancy of a male Nigerian is 49.35 years, female 55.77 years and on the overall, 52.46 years for the total population, according to the 2013 World Fact Book published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a leading intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States federal government.
Again, Nigerians’ age limit in the life expectancy rating is the lowest when compared with other countries, which together with Nigeria; make up the OPEC 12-member states.
In those OPEC-members states such as Iran, the life expectancy is 70.62 years for total population, 69.09 years for male and 72.24 years for female, likewise in Iraq, for male, the life expectancy is 69.67 years, female, 72.67 years and for the total population, 71.14 years.
For Kuwait, the total population is expected to live up to 77.46 years, while for male; it is 76.24 years and female, 78.75 years. In Saudi Arabia, life expectancy stands at 74.58 years for the total population, 72.58 years for male and 76.68 years for female.
Venezuela has its own figure put at 74.23 years for the total population, 71.12 years for male and 77.5 years for female, while in Qatar, it is 78.24 years for the total population, 76.27 years for male and 80.25 years for female.
In Libya, an average male national is expected to live up to 74.17 years and female, 77.57 years, while on the overall, 75.83 years for the total population. The story is similar for people in the United Arab Emirates, where life expectancy for male is put at 74.31 years, female 79.63 years and total population, 76.91 years.
For people in Algeria, a male’s life expectancy is 74.95 years, female, 77.47 years and the total population, 76.18 years. In Ecuador, it is 73.2 years for male, 79.25 years for female and total population, 76.15 years, while in Angola, a northern African country; life expectancy for male is 53.83 years, female, 56.11 years and total population, 54.95 years.
On the average, Nigeria’s is 37.17 years less than the current norm when compared with Monaco, which has the highest life expectancy of 89.63 years for the entire population, 85.7 years for male and 93.71 years for female.
Why do people live long in Monaco despite being the world’s second smallest country? The reason is, Monaco is a very rich country, and its citizens have access to the best healthcare.
Residents of Monaco typically eat a Mediterranean diet and live in a peaceful, stress-free environment.
But in Nigeria, reverse is the case. Nigerians are faced with a lot of stress and hardship on a daily basis, consequent upon the country’s bad economy. People struggle to survive. Assessing this report, another national agency, Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control said poverty and environmental pollution are two dominant factors reducing the life span of an average Nigerian.
The belief is that “when Nigerians die young, they usually die from diseases that could have been prevented or treated.” A classical case of environmental pollution causing increase in the country’s child mortality rate in the north, especially in Zamfara State, is lead poisoning outbreak said to have killed over 400 children under the age of five since March 2010.
Also at the Niger Delta region of the country, said to have experienced “the world’s largest oil spill,” children’s immune systems are weakened from drinking toxic water, as a result, children frequently die from diseases like cholera and malaria, while adults are also affected by environmental pollution.
But why are things different in a country like Macau, a former Portuguese settlement located about 35 miles west of Hong Kong, which boasts of the second highest life expectancy in the world at 84.38 years? The CIA said it is principally as a result of the country’s strong economy, which has enabled its government to invest in an excellent healthcare system that is available to all Macanese.
Now back to Nigeria, the backward rating of the country when it comes to living standard is because most people still don’t have access to good healthcare facilities, especially those in rural areas, either because they live far away from the nearest clinic or don’t have the money or the means to travel to the city.
A typical example is a fishing community in Delta State, where it is said that sick children in this remote region often die because it can take up to six hours to get to the hospital in a canoe.
With the perilous state of the country’s economy, Nigeria seems to have deviated from OPEC’s objective which seeks to help develop the economy of member nations, in such a way they would internally develop and create certain opportunities, designed in form of social security for their citizens. In essence, Nigeria seems to be the only country lagging behind, as there seems to be no sustaining structure providing self-sustaining security for its citizens.
That is why a potential Nigerian family lives as it is independent of the state, since individuals must on their own provide basic social amenities that should be the duty of the state. For instance, since the public power sector seems not working, each family must procure a generating set to make up for the inability of the country’s power company to generate uninterrupted power supply.
Medical bills are high, even for primary health cases; most Nigerians cannot pay their bills, leaving them to find solution in alternative medicine practitioners. Where is government in all these?
In developed economies and even in some of those earlier mentioned oil-rich countries, there are adequate provision for their citizens to benefit in certain social security measures, because governments have been able to reason it out that there are times in people’s lives when the worst, the unthinkable, can happen.
Everyone needs social security because in any human community, it is natural for accidents, serious illness or even death to occur, leaving a family to reel in shock and absolutely unable to make ends meet or provide the basic necessities for their family, most especially in the current Nigeria’s fragile economic climate, where individuals can be faced with financial misfortune in the blink of an eye.
Nigeria’s economic climate is so unfriendly that businesses are downsizing, and even closing, and the loss of a job can happen at any time, to anyone. In all of these cases or situations mentioned, it can be very comforting to know that there are agencies, public or private or people to turn to for advice or assistance and if there is none, this is where the government’s social welfare service comes in.
But none seems to be existing in Nigeria’s government agencies, whether at the federal or state levels, whereas, the welfare services is what can be used to provide tremendous relief to a family in need, and can often times be the deciding difference between a family or person forced to be homeless out on the streets, and that same person or family being able to afford safe shelter, nourishing food, and clothing.
Abroad, no matter if you are married, widowed or single, there are a wide range of options available to help people take care of themselves or family needs, in which Nigerians and other foreign nationals also benefit from.
Some of these different options for financial assistance are categorised into: Temporary assistance for needy families; Child support; Benefits for immigrants; Medicaid; the Child Nutrition Programme and the Food Stamp Programme, which even are considered as a mere small portion of the many social welfare services available to citizens or legal immigrants in those countries abroad.
At least, with these offers, people, most importantly, the unemployed or the indigent are provided with extra income to help them pay their bills, they have food stamps they can redeem at qualifying food market or stores for nutritious food for their family, likewise they have assistance for medical problems and prescriptions, and many, many more.
Where is the position of Nigeria or Nigerians in all these?
Two years ago, Nigeria’s National Council on Women Affairs and Social Development (NCWASD), in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, at its 14th regular meeting, said it will launch an all-inclusive national social welfare policy, which will most importantly, take care of the needs of Persons with Disability (PWDs), orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly, also putting into consideration the elderly within the society.
The idea, behind this, according to NCWASD is to provide a comprehensive social welfare package aimed at checking the growing danger of street begging in Nigerian cities, especially arresting the menace of street hawking in urban cities and Almajiri in the north.
As the highest policy-making body in issues primarily affecting Nigerian women and children, NCWASD was mandated to fast track the domestication of the UN Convention on the rights of PWDs to lessen poverty and improve their standards of living.
In the same vein, NCWASD was mandated to develop guidelines to facilitate settlement and repatriation of street beggars and destitute, while the state governments were asked to properly fund rehabilitation centres within their domain as well as activities of PWDs.
However, most of the resolutions adopted at this meeting are yet to be implemented. Even before this initiative, there had been several failed government’s family support programmes aimed at providing social security for Nigerians.
In 1976, as a military head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo, introduced Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), to tackle the problem of food shortages, while the Universal Primary Education (UPE) Scheme was also introduced to ensure mass enrolment in primary schools. But it wasn’t long after introduction that both programmes failed to meet their objective and they eventually faded away with the government that introduced them.
The succeeding government of Shehu Shagari, though after he assumed office in 1979 made attempt to building invest in the OFN programme with an introduction of a similar programme he called Green Revolution. But different levels of fraud and scandals, said to characterise the government eventually caused a setback for the programme.
Later, the government introduced the International Monetary Fund (IMF) backed by austerity measures, which was meant to make life easy for the poor later, began to encroach on their rights and privileges, thereby creating a harsh economic situation in the country. Also, the government’s Housing for All programme failed.
The Shagari’s era was followed with the General Ibrahim Babangida Mass Mobilisation for Social and Economic Reformation (MAMSER), Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), the Peoples Bank of Nigeria (PBN) and the Better Life for Rural Women Programme which later became his wife’s pet project and the IMF-backed Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).
All these programmes, the government said were to in one way or the other serve as possible means of social security for Nigerians, but their execution were fraught with corruption, as huge funds allocated for their execution were either embezzled or misappropriated. The era was marked to be the most corrupt in the country’s history.
In 1993, the General Ibrahim Abacha government also introduced its programme, principal among which are the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), the Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) and the Family Support Programme (FSP), all aimed at family support, but still, they did not live beyond their progenitors.
At the second coming of Olusegun Obasanjo to government, now as a civilian president, he established what he called the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP), which was later transformed into the National Youth Employment Scheme (NYES), but for its inability to really fulfil its purpose, it was renamed Poverty Eradication Programme (PEP) and later National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP). Initially, about N10 billion was voted for the project and later went up to N25.4 billion. Yet, its impact was hardly felt by people it was meant to take care of.
Why is it then difficult for Nigerian government to institute a sustainable social security scheme for Nigerians, a people’s advocate, a human rights lawyer blamed government inconsistency in policy implementation, especially those seeking social services for Nigerians.
“Everywhere in the world today, particularly in advanced capitalist societies, you find what is called social cushioning. In other words, because of the high demands of capitalism, governments of states have put in place some security for the people called social protection. That is why in some places, even in America, you find that people who are of certain age don’t pay for transportation, train services, even in London.
“You find that people have one or two means of ameliorating the harshness of the economy, there are people in America, maybe on Saturdays with certain periods, people don’t even pay for using train services. You find people do things in order, in such a way that you can see government functioning, but in Nigeria, what do you have? We have been told that government should not have anything to do with business; it should not have interest in transportation.
“How can you say government should not be interested in transportation? Every other country, except Nigeria has what you call national carrier, for instance, Ethiopia Airline, Kenya Airline. So what is government doing? People in government only go there to share people’s resources among themselves.
“So, it is very lamentable that 54 years after independence, Nigerians who have no employment cannot look up to government for any benefits. Of course, it is popularly known that in Europe and America, people who don’t have jobs get unemployment benefits. These are part of the social protection. It is sad that Nigerian leaders also travel to all these places and see them in operation.”
A radical lawyer and human rights activist, the late Bamidele Aturu, before his death had taken position against government’s lukewarm ness towards security it’s citizens.
The radical lawyer was of the opinion that government should be interested in this social security, as to him, the absence of social security has brought about physical insecurity in the country. “Now, kidnapping, robbery and a sorts of violent crimes have engulfed our country, simply because we have no social protection,” Aturu said.
Then, in his submission to SCUUP, Aturu gave the example of Europe and America, where he said education from primary to secondary or high school level “is virtually free, except for those who want to send their children to private schools.”
“The truth of the matter is education is virtually free. But in Nigeria, our public schools have been destroyed, people can’t send their children to public schools again and the private one’s are there to make money.
“Government doesn’t also care about the state of hospitals again, yet, there are no medical insurance. Hospitals can go on strike for months, government is not interested. Also, look at the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who has been on strike for months, government is not interested,” Aturu said.
He said for change to happen, the current set of leadership in the country must be changed, but was quick to say that he wasn’t recommending any political party as a better one, all he cared for was that good people who care for the interest of the masses should be allowed to direct the affairs of the country.
The human rights crusader submitted that “for a better Nigeria, the truth of the matter is that this people leading us cannot continue to lead us, we must find a lasting solution to it. We shouldn’t vote only on party basis.
He said anyone who claims to be a progressive and is not interested in the education of the children or show no interest in the health of the people is not a progressive.
The social critic said: “You can’t call yourself a progressive and not show concern in what interests the masses of the country. In essence, all these parties in the country are the same. These are the issues that should form our national discussion, that is, how the leadership of Nigeria will change for better.”
Nigeria’s acceptance of foreign help in intelligence sharing to locate the whereabouts of over 230 abducted schoolgirls, brought about foreign military presence in the country many weeks back, especially the United States troops.
But, the US, after dispatching its troops to Nigeria, said it would not share raw intelligence with Nigerian military, while it declined reasons for its position.
Pentangon’s spokesperson, Colonel Steve Warren, had, before the Africa’s head of US military command, Army General David Rodriguez, arrived Abuja, Wednesday, May 14, for a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, said Rodridguez would work out protocols for information sharing.
The protocols, according to Warrens, was to have in it, modalities for sharing of information from high-resolution cameras carried by US surveillance aircraft. But he stated that leaving a caveat – “We are not sharing raw intelligence data,” Warren said.
He ostensibly declined to give reasons for not releasing the the raw intelligence data which seems to be the reason for their presence in the country.
However, why US may not share its intelligence with Nigerian military, according to Scuup findings, is attributable to a section of American law that hinders US military from working with a section of Nigerian armed forces.
The reason may also not be unconnected with several human rights violations which had been blamed on the country, Nigeria, the latest, being the Presidents assent to a bill outlawing gay marriage in Nigeria.
Scuup findings discovered that a US 1997 law known as the “Leahy Amendment” is believed to be working against the US joint military effort with Nigerian forces.
The US law, which was named after its sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., according to US convention, “bars US forces from working with militaries, or units within them, accused of chronic human rights violations.”
Though some parts of US military cadres had, in the past complained the law hindered them from training foreign soldiers, but no ammendment has been made in this regard.
Consequently, there appears to be limitations in the extent to which the US force in Nigeria can go in its bid to help locate the missing schoolgirls.
Besides, findings also indicated that there is a specific counter-terrorism unit in Nigerian Army which the US doesn’t relate with because of “Leahy.”
However, the law, according to US Department of State, “does not prevent US from working with the Nigerian military for those soldiers or units that were not affected.”
To boost the Nigerian military’s human rights record, the US had earlier planned training on human rights and on appropriate use of force with the elements in Nigerian military which it can work with.
In this regard, “US has no plans to send personnel beyond the 30 or so already in Nigeria, where they are working with forces from France and Great Britain,” a senior US State Department official informed.
He indicated that they would primarily give logistical and technical support, particularly on communication with the Nigerian people and with neighbouring countries.
“The United States has already been very forthcoming and clear about the kind of approach that needs to be taken in to counter terrorism.
There can’t just be a military response; you have to have a holistic response. You have to deal with legitimate grievances that might be in a region,” the official said.
The official confirmed then that “American drones were scouring a region the size of West Virginia in northern Nigeria,” where the schoolgirls, mostly Christians, were kidnapped some month ago by Boko Haram Islamist group.
In addition, Warren after his meeting with President Jonathan confirmed that the US is flying unarmed, manned aircraft over the country to provide intelligence to the US Embassy.
Scuup findings also indicated that US had sent some 200 Marines to Sigonella Air Base in Sicily to help with “general unrest in the region, in North Africa,” but Warren said the US had “no intention to put Americans on the ground in Nigeria for the purpose of a rescue effort.”
According to US intelligence, it is believed that Boko Haram consisting of as many as a few thousand fighters, are believed is be hiding in rural areas, mountain caves and the dense Sambisa forest bordering Cameroon.
A protesting citizen. 
scuup 