Barrister Fabian Awhen
Poverty has largely been taken to mean a condition in which people, as a result of various intervening factors, are unable to have such basic needs as portable water, a balanced diet, decent shelter, and other necessities of life that would guarantee their comfort and happiness in life.
Poverty can also be viewed as a situation in which a person’s per capita income is below the tolerable level of international standards.
As human beings vary in size, structure, and level of activity, so do their requirements for food.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has suggested two thousand calories per day as the minimum energy intake for adults.
Other estimates range from two thousand one hundred to two thousand five hundred calories.
But not too long ago the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published its human development report in which it predicted that extreme poverty will be the lot of about two-thirds of Africans.
In that report, it was stated that the status of over four hundred million Africans will be characterized by the absence of food, potable water, and health care services.
This prediction is not far from being true.
Today we can say that despite sufficient global food supply and the efforts of thousands of dedicated people, mal-nutrition is pervasive among the poor in almost every developing country, the most vulnerable being children, the very old, pregnant, and lactating women
Available statistics by Population Action International, an NGO based in the United States, indicate that more than ten million children die each year from causes directly related to poverty and malnutrition.
One of the identified overt causes of poverty, particularly in developing countries is the wholesome adoption of the Bretton Wood imposed economic recovery Programmes such as the IMF policies of privatization and commercialization of public enterprises and firms without an instrumental framework for welfare services.
The outcome of such policies had been the putting of the public sector enterprises into the hands of a few privileged people who in turn embark on shedding production costs by massive retrenchment thereby creating massive poverty among the populace.
More than that, the apparent mismanagement by recipient countries of World Bank loans, United Nations Financial Aid, and grants for development purposes in many third-world countries has worsened rather than improved the poverty situation in those countries.
It will be recalled that when James Wolf Fenson, former World Bank President. toured some African countries, he was vehement in accusing some African heads of State of corruption in their management of funds made available by the Word Bank for development projects in their countries.
Against this background, therefore, and the need for a reversal of the trend, it has become necessary for African leaders to channel for proper use of loans and financial assistance granted by the World Bank and the United Nations Organization to ensure the development of their societies.
There is also the need to adopt policies that will ensure a remarkable reduction in the level of poverty in developing countries, indeed policies that will ensure that the rich are not getting richer and fatter, while the poor poorer and thinner.
This means that policies and programmes of developing countries where poverty is prevalent must have a human face so that we can all reap the benefit of civilization and enhance the dignity of the human person.
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