No our greedyness brought us there.

SLAP44:
I think it's because we elected someone who should have been enjoying his old age and retirement in a reputable old people's home with the vain hope that he will save our country.

We are the most hardworking yet the nation with the poorest citizens because our leaders have failed woefully. Inequality has never this wide in the history of Nigeria

Bluffly:

Our leaders work for instant gratification and not creation of sustainable values. They play to the gallery by the phrase "Tell them what they want to hear"

They trader money is seen as national cake because our politicians has made it so. Even the manner of distribution cannot be taken seriously. There was no formal structure to do that as it was all politics.

Nigerians have been failed and are now failing themselves

Well said

micflo28:
We are the most hardworking yet the nation with the poorest citizens because our leaders have failed woefully. Inequality has never this wide in the history of Nigeria

Nigerians and hardworking in the same sentence

Its unbelievable

Patode:
Why have we Nigerians become so lazy? Even in the villages, young people refuse to go to the farms. My take is, at least feed yourself before begging for money. Nigeria is the largest group of people that don't contribute anything to the world's food basket. "Give a man a fish, you'll feed him for one day. Teach him to fish, and you'll feed him forever". Let's all do some food production even if it means planting pepper, tomato and vegetables around the compound.

Thank you o


Nobody wan work again

Daum:
.
Because the Nigerian system encourages poverty by deliberately making the populace less educated and systematically creating an unhealthy environment for the few educated ones to thrive.

Educated ones don’t even thrive anymore only the corrupt ones thrive.

hush15:


Nigerians are poor cos they are bane of their own progress. Defending the indefensible, acknowledging the abominable and upholding lies to themselves. If not, isn't it blatant that the north are ripping us off using fallacies of numbers and landsizes while they are the most unproductive sects in the entire nation added to their fanaticism in religion and tribal sentiments and yet, and yet some morons in the south will still oblige cos the peanuts that will accrue to them, yet they are the ones funding the entire nation.

Well said

micflo28:
We are the most hardworking yet the nation with the poorest citizens because our leaders have failed woefully. Inequality has never this wide in the history of Nigeria

Nigerians are the most hardworking is not true, that’s just a baseless statement.

Omooba77:
By Abimbola Adelakun


https://punchng.com/why-are-nigerians-still-so-poor/

1.Quick money syndrome 2. Prosperity gospel 3. Poor government policy 4. Rural to urban migration 5. Invasion by herdsmen 6. Laziness and lack of innovation

Aystarz:


Just imagine those fat cats in the National Assembly and the enormity of the allowance they cart home every month. Statistics show that almost half of the National Budget goes to those empty-headed assholes and we wonder why Nigeria is poor


Worst thing is to change the statusquo, we'd need good pro-masses laws to work our way out, but how do you expect a thieving lawmaker to embark on a project that will ultimately put an end to his thievery?

My dear, it is very appalling. That is why the likes of me have given up on the govt. "Every mallam to his kettle" has become the fate of Nigerians.

I know one day, there will be a great change for the betterment of the citizens.
In God we hope.

Investnow2017:


I think you are right. The article began by robustly building anticipation only to end abruptly with a shocking introduction of a very strange and unrelated subject.

The writer has the power of the pen, how much I would have liked him to take the lead of the subject matter perseveringly to it's conclusion. For me I got suspended and unwittingly introduced to a subject for which I have no interest.

Thanks. I thought I was the only who noticed this painful digression.

.

I agree but I wouldn't say it was totally unrelated to the premise of her piece. I think she left the readers to link the issues we are facing in this country to the kind of leaders we have in the corridors of power.

Very good question.

kikero:



1.Having crude oil alone does not make you rich. It is what you do with the crude oil that makes you rich.
If i had a farm that grew maize, I could make a pile of money just from selling the maize, and an even bigger pile if I processed the maize into many products.

2.Oil rich countries that are rich all have a) small populaitons eg Saudi produces 5-6 times more oil than we do, and has 10 million people. UAE produces the same amount of oil as we do and has 11 million people. b) are also industrial nations. Norway earns a large amount from oil and also has a strong industrial sector...including ironically producing machinery for the oil drilling and refining sector...for export.(And they have a tiny populaiton as well).

3.The US is primarily an industrial nation. That they are now the world's largest oil producer is the result of a) technological innovation borne out of being an industrial nation b) It has been US policy since they got their hands severely burned by OPEC in the 1970's to be energy independent, and they have succeeded...and this is one policy the Republicans and Democrats agree on.

4.I doubt the US is trying to make life better for all its citizens. Yes, they have some basic welfare....but it is sort of limited, and if you fall seriously ill in the US for example...you may end up with heavy duty medical bills.(compared to countries with good health insurance like the UK, Canada, Germany, etc).

5.The problem with Nigeria? We want the benefits of a first world nation without the productivity.

I have to agree with you on this one

It's not often I agree with you

But you are right on this one

I think the reason why Nigerians are poor is because our government failed to build an all inclusive systems and structures that will guarantee the well being of every citizen of Nigeria as well as even distribution of resources. Our leaders are fighting against such because they are greedy and want a place where chaos is the order of the day for their selfish interest.

You can just imagine how some countries are taking care of their citizens during this pandemic. They have structures and and care about their citizens.

It is quite unfortunate here in Nigeria.

donbachi:
Its even a crime been a nigerian.

Loud it brother.

Tonero2162:
Speak for yourself bro. I'm a millionaire

Yeah, very very soon at the rate we are going, we all will be millionaires and billionaires in Nigeria. Even your valcanizer, hawker on the street etc will all be millionaires, abi haven't you heard that with £2000 @N500 you are already a millionaire, or $3000@ N425 you are very very more than million dollarman?

Nice write up,
But a contrast piece.
From poverty in naija to the mis managed death of Abba kyari.
How do we solve poverty? Diversify the economy, stop lip service to agriculture, and become a producing economy rather than a consuming one. God bless the Free people of the land!

SLAP44:
.

Less than a year ago, we were told that Nigeria had achieved food security


ABEG I STOP READING HERE

QUESTION IS TOLD BY WHO MINISTER OF LIES

A MAN WHO HAD DETHORNED SATAN AS THE FATHER OF ALL LIARS

FryMosquito:
Over population plus incompetent corrupt politicians..

.EXACTLY MY TAKE.
ANYWAYS HOW HAVE U BEEN ABLE TO GET OVER MOSQUITO BITES, DO U FRY THEM?

Christmasdon:
.EXACTLY MY TAKE.
ANYWAYS HOW HAVE U BEEN ABLE TO GET OVER MOSQUITO BITES, DO U FRY THEM?

LOL.. You know there are mosquitoes in human form, fry them ao they won't come to u again

wacuc0:
A country where the people don't invest is doomed to fail. Poverty will be the major industry. Have you not seen here that only the poor people are struggling to make an investment while the rich are running after stolen money.

After all these we turn to blame Government. Yes Government has some part of the blame, but 80% of Africa problem in lack of investment. Majority of the big accounts in Switzerland, Cayman Island, Canada, etc are owned by Africans particular Nigerians. Ask - Any European or Western man with a big account in Nigeria?

Four major private companies in US is bigger than the whole of Africa, this is not Government. Yes they have some blame, but the government comes from the people, you can not change it. If Nigerians lack investment spirit so shall the government lack investment power. Almost all companies in Nigeria are struggling for money not investment. These are two different things. Companies that go for investment stay after generations and continue to improve the system. While we make money and the company will die with us just to be called a Multi bilioniar Abiola's death made over 70,000 workers jobless. The same with so many thousands of companies, that is why we are poor. Juluis Berger has been here for over 50yrs and still operating while we have had over 2000 similar construction companies coming and going, just to grab money and die off. Creating over 10million jobless youths.

It is not Government it we.

Well said


Best comment

But I disagree just on one tiny detail

The money African elite think they have in Switzerland et al is chicken change compared to what the Arabs, Russians and Japanese have stored there


The money would have done so much for us here

But it's still small compared to what other heavyweights generate and save out there

SLAP44:
I think it's because we elected someone who should have been enjoying his old age and retirement in a reputable old people's home with the vain hope that he will save our country.

100/100

The entire world has the poor because some people are smarter than others or sometimes luckier thereby getting a bulk of the wealth and leaving the less lucky ones begging. I thank God my generation through 5 generations of my ancestors have never been poor and I pray for those yet to be liberated to experience the wisdom of Solomon and utilize positive opportunities. The easiest way to escape poverty is to realize and maximize your agricultural potentials and to the best of my knowledge most of Nigerian lands are arable.

Relative poverty is not a crime nor is it a stigma and, in fact, “poor” Nigerians inhabit an environment that with imagination and commitment will readily yield the very highest quality of life. Now, I know some may react viscerally to this idea: bulk or be offended; however, they should not. Take this as an idea of hope since unless the world produces some revolutionary and transformative technology capable of mitigating Scarcity, the majority of the world’s poor will remain poor – in the way poverty is presently defined. The world does not have capacity for providing every living human being an average Western citizen’s life standard, not without irrevocably damaging the planet. The sooner opposition politics in Nigeria stop lying and deceiving ordinary Nigerians on how their lot in life is below that of average third wall citizen but that their lives would become like that of Europe and America if they but only vote them into office, the wealthier the live of poor Nigerians may actually become , since shorn of elusions they may face the required work that will lead to this.

Lyoncrescent:
Being poor is multidimensional and not limited to food alone and can be analysed different ways. I want to focus on Security, Health, Education and Food Security.

All these things are elitist.

If you are a VIP or a multimillionaire, just go and see your DPO and he can give you two police men to be following you around. We see it everywhere. The police is poorly trained and poorly paid and has poor investigation mechanism and structures. First role of government is securing life and property but even that they have failed and we are all victims .

If you are a VIP again , you will have access to the best hospitals and not the government rubbish ones . Even some government hospitals have private wards for VIP and rich patients and those ones are treated so highly that you won't believe that it's the same hospital. In a developed nation , health is key but here even the president runs to London when he has a health crisis. Even the middle class is not spared in the poor nature of the health sector.

Education is a tragedy. No one that has a choice will send their children to a public primary school which is the foundation. In developed nations , public primary education is the rule while private primary education is the exception while in Nigeria it is the other way around . However FG will say the school feeding program that gulps 600 million naira daily has been a success and that primary school education is not under the FG ; in other words we can feed them but we can't equip their classrooms or pay their teachers because it's not our job. And the rot is all the way to tertiary level. With the exception of Lagos Business school, no MBA program in Nigeria meets international standards of any of AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. It's all poor.

Food security is in shambles. Why is it so expensive to transport food from Kano to Lagos ? No one has been able to answer this question. Why are incentives not given to food production and processing companies so that we all benefit one way or the other ? It's beyond me .

Nigeria is a clueless nation . When they came with surep and you win , I said nothing will change and that it will only set a dangerous precedence. Then they came again with npower , trade moni and cash transfer. Yet another misplaced priority. This schemes are supposed to be the icing on the cake; Additional initiatives to a core initiative. However there is little or no cake. Nigeria is spending more on icing than the main cake . We spend so much on helping the poor with tokenism while neglecting the core of Security,Health, Education and Food Security.

At the end of the day, we are all poor including the elites and the rich. We never know when we will be victims of this poor system. When a wayward and poor policeman may out of frustration kill a family relation, when a niece may be rushed to a teaching hospital with pregnancy complications and the doctor on call will be in his own private hospital , when the children we refused to educate will kidnap us and when lack of standards will result to us consuming poisoned beans in our mansions . In the end , being rich and living in a poor system means we are all poor .

This rot is not limited to the Federal Government. State Governors are even worse and if I use Lagos state as a case study, we won't leave here today. God help Nigeria.

you are among the very few smart Nigerians.

[s]

Abagworo:
The entire world has the poor because some people are smarter than others or sometimes luckier thereby getting a bulk of the wealth and leaving the less lucky ones begging. I thank God my generation through 5 generations of my ancestors have never been poor and I pray for those yet to be liberated to experience the wisdom of Solomon and utilize positive opportunities. The easiest way to escape poverty is to realize and maximize your agricultural potentials and to the best of my knowledge most of Nigerian lands are arable.

[/s]


Hahahaha

Just look at this cursed hopeless useless frustrated poverty inflicted old man.

Your riches starts and ends on nairaland, why? The question is, have you seen anyone from Imo state or ikwerre that's rich in the real sense of it, except for their few top political office holders like Okoroawusa who stole public money? I am still in PH, show yourself at any public place of your choice, I really wanna do a documentary about your poverty life and show it here on nairaland. Lol

Abagworo, even anyone that hasn't met you before now, knows that you are a poverty stricken old man, because people from where you come from are generationally poor people, how much more people like us that knows you too well offline.

Till date, you still living with your poor old mother in one dirty room, in one dirty area in PORT HARCOURT. Despite your old age, you are still unmarried. All you do is marauding joblessly with your ikwerre cousins all around PORT HARCOURT.

Abagworo melu onwe gi ebele. I spit on your bald head. Dwarfish poverty inflicted old man.

Is journalism about expression of thought, the proper use of English or is it about facts

Even though we've been under lock down for almost. 6 weeks. Food still gets into Lagos, fresh fruit is available daily at food markets at normal prices.


This is something that is not attainable even in some developed? Countries.

Now the point is globally we have people who work for wages, or tips, or get paid according to work done. These people will often not have enough savings to last the lockdown. (Low income earners too)


But in the long run even salary earners would be affected. And in the longest run everyone would be affected.

Every country has its poor, and no country can exist solely on its own resources. But our local produce is still sustaining us. The purchasing power may not just be there.

/
Nigerians hate corruption but they don't want corruption to stop. Everyone is hoping that it will get to his or her turn soon. As such they don't want the trend to end lest it blocks their aspirations.

Ever wonder why critics (like Reuben Abati, Tai Solarin, Femi Adesina) go mute as soon as they get government appointment? It is because they made so much noise, drew attention to themselves and finally got invited to the dining table.

If everyone is rich, who could be oppressed? Don't forget that oppression is second nature to Nigerians.

\

We are poor because we neglected the theory of diversification .

Basically,you're poor cause you were always poor,your politicos words and actions to the contrary notwithstanding. Imo,you blame your leaders too much-they're simply a reflection of the society! Last year someone dealt with this very same question satisfactorily.

Nigeria has a smaller national budget than Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and South Africa. All these countries have fewer citizens, yet significantly more money to spend on them. While Nigeria’s 2019 budget amounts to $29 billion, South Africa, with a population almost 4 times smaller, will spend $130 billion. Egypt has a $90 billion budget with 100 million people. Elsewhere, countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam have larger budgets than Nigeria. No one considers these nations “rich”. Yet, among Nigerians, there persists a stubborn myth that Nigeria is a wealthy country. Who planted this idea and why does it survive?

https://www.nairaland.com/5194117/nigeria-not-rich-must-read

The writer has real insights!

The first time someone challenged my belief I was from a rich country I became agitated. It was a girlfriend of mine who wasn’t Nigerian, one of those annoying types who know things they have no business knowing. I mentioned Nigeria was rich. “No, it isn’t. I checked. It has a smaller economy than some countries with just 5-10 million people like Sweden or Norway and a lower GDP per capita than the likes of Albania, Guatemala or Mongolia which are all considered poor countries,” she retorted. I struggled to contain my anger. What kind of rubbish was this girl telling me? That my entire national self-concept was wrong? Impossible!

I think many Nigerians are still psychologically reluctant to accept Nigeria’s true position in the global pecking order today. Our sense of national self is largely built around the notion that we are a country very rich in natural and human resources, just one good government away from greatness. Some optic illusions further render this belief hard to shake.

I've noticed the last bolded here and IRL in Nairobi!

I can see that some fellow keep mentioning nigeria as a poor country itself...NOTE: NIGERIA is neither a poor nor manageable nation, even we are blessed with enough resources around the continent, but i think our problem is that we always put our hope in humanity but not in GOD, that's why we always find ourself at the hand of evil and non-caring GOVERNMENT following their fake/false promise. Majority of nigerian dwelling in poverty despite their harworking, our selfish leaders are looting billions unquestionably, but the bitter truth is that everybody will give account on his/her good or bad deed respetively. Nobody is above death...i rest my case.... please make sure you #staysafe COVID-19 IS REAL