A United Nations statement defined poverty as denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity, not having enough to feed and clothe a family. It also means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. The whispered poverty in Nigeria, despite its abundant and material resources, is a great challenge for transformational democratic governance.
The country started transitioning to democracy over 23 years, and for almost as long, the rate of poverty has stood at 40 percent and above even as unemployment rate tops 33 percent, while cost of living remains quite high because of rate of inflation which stands at 15.6%. Many Nigerians have no access to electricity which is critical for development, alleviation of poverty and hardship. Businesses are suffering and some are closing down. The country cannot meet its production quota because of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. The development has made Nigeria a huge laboratory for formulation of policies and programmes to eliminate poverty.
The quest for democracy was not just to do away with military dictatorship, but a struggle for improvement in living conditions and transformation of the structure of the economy. While democracy has its normative values worth celebrating in its right, such as right to vote and be voted for, and rule of law, its perceived social and economic dividends are the major drivers why citizens desire and struggle for democracy. This is because citizens are able to exercise real choice, or participate meaningfully in democracy, only after they have gone beyond poverty, squalor, hunger, and inequality.
Poverty makes democracy lose credibility. As Mabolo (2018) clearly puts it, “a country in which the citizens go hungry is not a democracy. Indeed, a democracy that is unable to enhance the security and well-being of its people stands on weak foundation. Whatever, model of democracy that is conceived, it must put bread on the table for the people. This is simply because people do not eat democracy, people eat food’’.
Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, provides insight on the implications of this when he observed that, the very right to be human is denied every day to hundreds of millions of people as a result of poverty, due to the unavailability of basic necessities such as food, jobs, water, shelter, education, healthcare and clean environment.
As long as poverty continues, practice of democracy will be difficult. But, if people are removed from poverty and empowered economically, they will vote based on who has the best manifestoes that can improve their lives and posterity. Due to poverty, people are influenced to vote by temporal gifts given by the rich and not ideologies or programmes.
It is in this context that we should understand the political system as transactional between politicians and voters. Even in the intra party democracy, the rich often buy their way up through party primary elections, and so we often end up having people elected not because they have the ability to serve but because of being rich. They get elected over the poor who are better intellectually and morally. Also, an aspirant does not attain political position without the assistance of political godfather, who pulls through all the strings to have him secure the position, in exchange for unfettered access to state funds and political influence. Thus, democracy as practised, does not give the weak the same chance as the strong. Poverty is as much a threat to a democracy as poor institutions, in that it deprives people of their political voice, preventing them from holding their governments accountable and responsive, and eroding public trust in the emerging institutions of democracy.
Though Nigerian democracy allows political parties to have a semblance of political competition, various governments have not been able to respond to the demands of the majority of the people in any meaningful way. The point is that democracy that is unable to response to the needs of the poor or creates equal opportunities for all, creates trust deficit.
Everything rises and falls with leadership. Poverty mentality is the result of the inability of the leaders to manage the economic resources of the country efficiently, since the return to democratic rules. Some leaders are so obsessed with primitive acquisition of money and other material possessions far beyond what is needed for dignified life. Nigeria like other countries of the world is an acquisitive society, where to own property and make profit is an inalienable right of the individuals. This explains why some Nigerian politicians and privileged citizens see their elevated positions as opportunity to accumulate money and property beyond the dictates of reason.
The ubiquitous poverty is traceable to inadequate investment by the Nigerian political class in human capital development, that will enable individuals live a dignified and a happy life. Because of inadequate investment in its people, Nigeria is unable to take advantage of the youth bulge to spur its development. The political class has limited the roles of the youths in the political process to undignified assignments of political thugs responsible for unleashing mayhem before, during and after elections.
Therefore, to assign a position of honour to our youths in the political process, funding of the education sector should be up-scaled to provide necessary skills for them. The allocation of 7.9% to the education sector in the 2022 Budget still fell short of 26% of annual budget recommended by UNESCO. Proper funding of the tertiary institutions will bring prosperity, sustainability, global research grants; attract more international students as was seen in the past. The federal government could improve its economy through education, the same way countries like Malaysia, India, Ghana have done.
Nigerians expected that democracy would result in better living standards. But, the experience since 1999 has been marked by increased poverty, inequality, unemployment continued dependence on oil, as major source of revenue and foreign exchange. However, despite the paradoxical relationship between poverty and democracy, studies have shown that democracy remains the most sustainable form of governance. So, to have positive impact, democracy must go beyond the ritual of elections every four years. The political elites need to build inclusive political and economic institutions. The institutions would require creating the enabling environment for women and youths to participate in the economy and the political process. Eradication of poverty is an essential contributing factor to the promotion and preservation of democracy. Politics should be a vehicle for touching the lives of citizens and developing a prosperous society.
- Anyasi writes from Abuja.