Why is the North always made the face of poverty in Nigeria?

I have always wanted to ask this question. Is it really true that the North is the poorest region in Nigeria or is it a matter of who best shows the world how poor they are? Search as hard as you want, every photo you see of Nigeria's poor people always depicts the North. Yet this regions has some of the richest Nigerians, from past military rulers to the multitude of minions they have enriched. Do you know that there is a store in the UK where descriptions of good are also done in Hausa, in addition to English?
I am baffled at the irony of this whole thing

This is a picture (from the website below) with the title ''70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages''

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Meanwhile here is the full article suggesting, even if passively, about how it would have been better to burn the billions of pounds the UK gives to Nigeria as aid than give it to Nigeria



A country so corrupt it would be better to burn our aid money

By Michael Burleigh

PUBLISHED: 18:14 EST, 8 August 2013 | UPDATED: 18:41 EST, 8 August 2013


Nigeria is not quite the most corrupt country on earth. But according to Transparency International, which monitors international financial corruption, it is not far off — coming a shameful 172nd worst among the 215 nations surveyed.

Only countries as dysfunctional, derelict and downright dangerous as Haiti or the Congo are more corrupt.

In theory, Nigeria’s 170 million-strong population should be prospering in a country that in recent years has launched four satellites into space and now has a burgeoning space programme.
Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it's doing for ordinary Nigerians

Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it's doing for ordinary Nigerians

Moreover, Nigeria is sitting on crude oil reserves estimated at 35 billion barrels (enough to fuel the entire world for more than a year), not to mention 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

It also manages to pay its legislators the highest salaries in the world, with a basic wage of £122,000, nearly double what British MPs earn and many hundreds of times that of the country’s ordinary citizens.
The oil industry is highly corrupt, with 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11¿billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011

The oil industry is highly corrupt, with 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11¿billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011

No wonder the ruling elite can afford luxury homes in London or Paris, and top-end cars that, across West Africa, have led to the sobriquet ‘Wabenzi’, or people of the Mercedes-Benz.

Yet 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages because of a lack of petrol refining capacity, even though their country produces more crude oil than Texas.

And that poverty is not for want of assistance from the wider world.
Poverty: Millions of Nigerians are living in poverty, despite the country earning huge profits from its oil deposits



Since gaining its independence in 1960, Nigeria has received $400 billion (£257 billion) in aid — six times what the U.S. pumped into reconstructing the whole of Western Europe after World War II.

Nigeria suffers from what economists call the ‘resource curse’ — the paradox that developing countries with an abundance of natural reserves tend to enjoy worse economic growth than countries without minerals and fuels.

The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people — a situation that fosters rampant corruption and economic sclerosis because there is no investment in infrastructure as the country’s leaders cream off its wealth.
Nigerian police can be easily bribed to look the other way in a country where corruption in Nigeria is endemic

Nigerian police can often be easily bribed to look the other way in a country where corruption in Nigeria is endemic

Corruption in Nigeria is endemic — from parents bribing teachers to get hold of exam papers for their children through clerks handed ‘dash’ money to get round the country’s stifling bureaucracy to policemen taking money for turning a blind eye.

It is at its most blatant, perhaps, in the oil industry, where 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11 billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011, while hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies were given to fuel merchants to deliver petrol that never materialised.

Whether the country is ruled by civilians or soldiers, who invariably proclaim their burning desire to eradicate civilian corruption, it makes absolutely no difference.
The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people

The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people

The military ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1979 and from 1983 to 1999, but if anything, corruption was worse when they were in charge since they had a habit of killing anyone threatening to expose them.

It is estimated that since 1960, about $380 billion (£245 billion) of government money has been stolen — almost the total sum Nigeria has received in foreign aid.

And that even when successive governments attempt to recover the stolen money, much of this is looted again.
President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties, had accrued a staggering $4¿billion (£2.58¿billion) fortune by the time he died

President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties, had accrued a staggering $4¿billion (£2.58¿billion) fortune by the time he died

In essence, 80 per cent of the country’s substantial oil revenues go to the government, which disburses cash to individual governors and hundreds of their cronies, so effectively these huge sums remain in the hands of a mere 1 per cent of the Nigerian population.


Political power is universally regarded as a chance to reap the fortunes of office by the ruling elite and its families and tribes.

The most egregious example was President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties and accrued a staggering $4 billion (£2.58 billion) fortune by the time he died of a heart attack while in bed with two Indian prostitutes at his palace in the nation’s capital, Abuja, in 1998. Abacha’s business associates did nicely, too — one of them deposited £122 million in a Jersey offshore account after selling Nigerian army trucks for five times their worth.

Public office is so lucrative that people will kill to get it. Nigeria has 36 state governors, 31 of whom are under federal investigation for corruption.

In one of the smallest states, a candidate for the governorship occupied by one Ayo Fayose received texts signed by the ‘Fayose M Squad’ — and it was clear the ‘M’ was for ‘Murder’ when they stabbed and bludgeoned a third candidate to death in his own bed.

By the end of its term of office, the British Government will have handed over £1 billion in aid to Nigeria.

Given the appalling levels of corruption in that nation, this largesse is utterly sickening — for the money will only be recycled into bank accounts in the Channel Islands or Switzerland.

Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it’s doing for ordinary Nigerians.



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Like you don't know the answers to your questions!!


The Northerners are Dull,Greedy,Wicked,Stone Hearted and Brainwashed fellas who only think about 72 effing Virgins

Hernadez99: Like you don't know the answers to your questions!!


The Northerners are Dull,Greedy,Wicked,Stone Hearted and Brainwashed fellas who only think about 72 effing Virgins

Poor southerners are too proud to exhibit their poverty and some often do anything it takes (including crime) to escape poverty. I am convinced that no poor Igbo, Edo or Yoruba, Delta, ''Calabar'' etc will knowingly allow their impoverished household to be photographed. It does not mean there is no extreme poverty in the south; it is a matter of self pride to not overly exhibit it. This is contrary to the hausa/fulani, where crime to escape poverty is existent but to a seemingly lower scale.

docokwy:

Poor southerners are too proud to exhibit their poverty and some often do anything it takes (including crime) to escape poverty. I am convinced that no poor Igbo, Edo or Yoruba, Delta, ''Calabar'' etc will knowingly allow their impoverished household to be photographed. It does not mean there is no extreme poverty in the south; it is a matter of self pride to not overly exhibit it. This is contrary to the hausa/fulani, where crime to escape poverty is existent but to a seemingly lower scale.

Bros,there is no "Extreme Poverty in the South!!

@op

Have you been to the east before making this conclusion? East and northern Nigeria have no infrastructural facilities. There is little difference between them. If there was no Lagos or other areas in SW that gave opportunities to eastern people, eastern people wouldn't be wearing cloths today.

eye4eye: @op

Have you been to the east before making this conclusion? East and northern Nigeria have no infrastructural facilities. There is little difference between them. If there was no Lagos or other areas in SW that gave opportunities to eastern people, eastern people wouldn't be wearing cloths today.

STFU. In the south the Yorubas are the poorest. Yoruba beggars with plates everywhere.

Hernadez99: Bros,there is no "Extreme Poverty in the South!!

There is, I promise you. Visit Osun and Oyo and Ekiti.

Because the man in the picture is just producing kids like a reptile.
All of them will be poor, and all of them will produce kids at the same rate as their father. That's why

the north which get 60% of the revenue.

Ikengawo: Because the man in the picture is just producing kids like a reptile.
All of them will be poor, and all of them will produce kids at the same rate as their father. That's why

Honestly, this is unbelievable: one man, several wives and nearly uncountable # of kids. If a clean census is conducted today and the North is proven to be more than the South, I really won't be surprised. An average modern Igbo man has no more than 4 kids.

I counted 11. Yorubas are no different. This is honestly disgusting. At what point do you separate yourself from animals.

Ikengawo: I counted 11. Yorubas are no different. This is honestly disgusting. At what point do you separate yourself from animals.

docokwy:

There is, I promise you. Visit Osun and Oyo and Ekiti.

hahahahahahah Yourba states

docokwy:

Poor southerners are too proud to exhibit their poverty and some often do anything it takes (including crime) to escape poverty. I am convinced that no poor Igbo, Edo or Yoruba, Delta, ''Calabar'' etc will knowingly allow their impoverished household to be photographed. It does not mean there is no extreme poverty in the south; it is a matter of self pride to not overly exhibit it. This is contrary to the hausa/fulani, where crime to escape poverty is existent but to a seemingly lower scale.

Of cause we too proud, the south aint as silly as d North showing dere filthy laundries in public n fink it shows dem as humble, it shows how much every single person has failed in d North n how freaking lazy dese people are. Dat picture show a poverty stricking family yet d dude has 2 wives n probably 100 kids waiting for d govt to take care of his sorry ass*.

Because they are the true face of poverty! Sorry what else can I say.

And Boko Haram has only just made things worse for them