NIGERIA’S INSECURITY IS THE OUTCOME OF POVERTY CREATED BY AN UNEQUAL SYSTEM

Neither Nigeria’s disappointing economic performance nor the countless cases of insecurity and poverty, can simply be blamed on ignorance of our leaders on the issues. It’s a deliberate policy by them to maintain an unequal system that will sustain the power they wield and wealth they plunder. If ignorance were the problem, some of the leaders would learn about the problems either through advisers, good citizens or international community, and quickly learn what types of policies would improve the welfare of the citizens they represent. To this end, the current situation of Nigerians cannot be seen as a natural occurrence but rather, a deliberate policy by few elites to further subjugate and dominate the vast majority of the citizens. The extreme poverty persisting on a daily basis can be eradicated only with right institutions steered by right citizens. It’s untrue that the president and his advisers were badly informed or ignorant on the right economic policies to eradicate poverty, they choose irrational economic policies like tradermoni, P-yes and empower, just to buy the political supports of citizens before elections, for votes and after elections, to sustain the continuation of the administration. The government is well informed that, these policies cannot cure the disease of poverty nevertheless, they choose to adopt and implement them in exchange for cheap political support. There are many policies for eradicating and curing the menace of poverty but, eradicating poverty is not a concern on their list of interest. They choose to neglect policies that will lead to prosperity and instead, embrace irrational policies that suit their interest. If people are not living in extreme poverty, the fear of this consequences is what they choose to avoid. People will start questioning the way power and resources are distributed in their own fatherland, the outcome of these questions is what they fear and choose to resist. They’ve achieved almost their entire objective of making people live in poverty, so that no one will become an obstacle or challenge to the power they wield and wealth they plunder. The way Nigerians are experiencing hardship and extreme poverty, no one cares what the government does anymore or how our politicians become wealthier than most successful businessmen in United States.

The spillover of the injustice and inequality of the political and economic institutions created by our few elites, is the reason behind the current state of insecurity Nigeria is facing. In short, the insecurity, is the miscarriage effect of poverty, injustice and corruption, created by our unequal system that choose to narrow how power is circulated and how wealth is distributed to few elites amongst us. Insecurity will continue to persist, if the constraints to prosperity were not address. These constraints are not limited to poverty, injustice and inequality. It also include; unemployment, mismanagement, corruption, unequal economic and political system. To completely see to the admonishment of these constraints, a political transformation and revolution has to take place in both politics and economy of Nigeria. This is not an end in itself, but also a first step towards building a country with better security, qualitative education and high standard of living. The revolution should be effective with strong background that is in contrast with the existing status quo, because history is full of examples of revolutions replacing a tyranny and unequal system with another. We should also be cautious of those who will lead such revolution, because history taught us that, despots and dictators arise during such time that political and economic institutions are weak to sustain stability. With this, Nigeria will surely be victorious against insecurity.