Poverty as a Dynasty by Edwin Ekene

One of the physical conditions
synonymous with human nature is
poverty! It is a challenge that has
defiled all known theories and laws.
The world that is divided along
national, racial, religious, sectional,
denominational, cultural, ideological
and political lines is brought
together at every given opportunity
to brainstorm on the best approach
to tackling this distasteful reality.
The increasing demands for
workable solutions that will
permanently arrest this generational
challenge was what prompted the
former President of World Bank
Group, Mr. Robert Zoellic, to make a
statement every constructive critic
must reflect on! He said: “If poverty
were so easy to overcome, someone
would have done it long ago”. This
was the statement that came from
the former boss of an international
organization dedicated to tackling
global poverty.
It was Isaac Newton, in propounding
the law of gravity, that said:
“Whatever goes up must come
down”, but, some persons now say,
whatever goes up in Nigeria keeps
going up and vice versa! Before
now, our tertiary institutions used to
be meeting point for students from
both the rich and poor families,
thereby enhancing the chances of
social mobility! But, today, the
reverse is the case as children of the
rich either attend foreign universities
or any of the private universities or
tertiary institutions which the
children of the poor cannot attend.
Government funded tertiary
institutions are now left for the
children of the middle class and few
children of the poor. This is one of
the reasons our lawmakers are
considering the idea of making laws
to prevent the children of public
office holders from schooling
abroad.
Some years ago, when the daughter
of one of the former Nigerian leaders
was about getting married to one of
the sitting governors in the country,
the youths of his community were
protesting, saying why must it be
only a particular group of Nigerians
that will be marrying the daughters
of the former Nigerian leader. But,
their questions fell on deaf ears! The
truth of the matter is that such
attitude is fast becoming an
entrenched culture in our social life.
There was a time when the daughter
of one of the Nigerian business
moguls wanted to tie the nuptial nut
with one of the little known
contractor in her father’s company,
her father allegedly rejected the offer
initially, but because of the genuine
insistence of the lady, the marriage
was consummated. Going by the
current realities in the country, I
doubt if the son of a governor will
ever marry the daughter of a farmer
or a trader! The marriage line in the
country is now divided along socio-
economic, religious and political
lines. Whether these marriages have
been successful or not is a different
story. Even in advanced societies,
children of the poor or the middle
class still get married to the children
of the higher class. This was
exemplified on April 29, 2011, when
Prince William, the Duke of
Cambridge got married to Catherine
Elizabeth Middleton, daughter of a
former staff of British Airway.
According to reports, they both met
at the University of St. Andrew in
2001, before other things like
rapport, self disclosure, mutual
dependency, personality needs
fulfillment and finally marriage
consummation followed suits.
(Apologies to Ira Reiss)
The gap between the rich and the
poor is too wide in Nigeria. The
middle class in the country is just a
hand full. According report by
Thisday Newspaper in 2011, middle
class are those whose monthly
salary is $500 or about N80, 000
and above. Also, at the 8th National
Conference on Investment,
organized by the Nigerian
Investment Promotion Council, the
Minister of State for Federal Capital
Territory (FCT), Chief Olajumoke
Akinjide said, about 46.9 percent of
the residents in Abuja earn below
N30,000 per month, while 19.77
percent of the population in Abuja
earn between N30,000 and N50,000
per month. Only 5.44 percent earn
between N50, 000 and N100, 000
per month.
Before any relationship begins, it
must start with a rapport between
the parties involved. Now, the
children of the higher class lodge in
hotels where a room cost about
N100, 000 per night. When they
attend clubs, it is either a high
profile one in Nigeria or a club or a
holiday outside the country! There is
really no platform for the cross
fertilization of ideas among these
classes of Nigerians. This was the
situation where one of the top
female government officials
expressed in an interview she
granted to one the national dailies in
2007. She said, in those days when
she was single, she actually needed
a man, but available ones where
afraid to come around because of
her high status both in education
and income (sic).
The harsh economic realities and
uncertainties young men and
women are facing in the country can
sometimes be viewed as man-made.
Imagine a situation where a young
man would want to marry, instead of
allowing him to cut his cloth
according to his means, compulsory
lists from different angles will be
handed down to him, including the
church list. In Western countries, if
a man is marrying a wife, he is
marrying an individual, but, in Africa,
a young man that wants a positive
nod from his in-laws, parents, wife,
church and society have just
compounded his problems. But, the
simple reality is that, we all
operating from the same economy
where social popularity has no
economic value!
Since culture undergoes changes
through innovation and diffusion, I
think it is high time we had stopped
this Nigerian way of dying!
(Apologies to Professor Wole
Soyinka).

Comrade Edwin Ekene is the
National President of Young
Nigerians for Change.

No. 29, Ben Mbamalu Crescent,
Achara Layout, Enugu.
edwinuhara@rocketmail.com