STOMACH INFRASTRUCTURE: A Question of Poverty?
Stomach Infrastructure is the latest buzzword in Nigerian political lexicon. It was popularized by Cheta Nwanze and retweeted by Japheth Omojuwa {I stand to be corrected} on his blog in the wake of the recently concluded (June 21) Ekiti gubernatorial elections. Active users on the popular social media- Twitter should be familiar with these personages.
Stomach Infrastructure is a term used to describe the economic impact of hunger and poverty on the political choices and decisions of citizens during electioneering and other political activities (‘Yemi Thomas, 2014). The term presupposes the influence the economic wellbeing of citizens has on their political choices. In its literal depiction, it exposits the citizens’ political sympathy on prospective public office holders who have touched their lives through handouts of food items, money and other poverty soothing (sic) schemes. It makes a case for the benefactor-beneficiary relationship between politicians and the electorate. The most common variation of Stomach Infrastructure is “Money-for-votes”, which is a timeless tool employed by unscrupulous elites and politicians to influence votes in favor of their candidates.
The interesting aspect about this theme is that it yet brings to the fore the widespread poverty that pervades the land. A large number of the population lives in a state of despair and hopelessness such that desperation to eke a living has led many to engage in various social vices such as thievery, armed robbery, prostitution, thuggery, miscreancy[Agbero], advanced fee fraud[419] and other social endangerments. Frustrated unemployed graduates who seeks an easy way out takes to Cybercrime [yahoo-yahoo], Voodoo Cyber-fraud [Yahoo-plus], corporate prostitution, kidnapping, armed militancy, money rituals…….In the same vein, this evil of poverty has yet provoked an awakening of latent business potentials in many who conceive of great business ideas but got stuck because they lack the capital to commercialize the business venture.
Poverty is a fallout of leadership failure that has characterized successive administrations that had governed this blessed country at one point in time or another. It’s paradoxical to grapple with the fact that the level of poverty being experienced under civilian rule is greater than the one experienced during the military’s interregnum in Nigerian politics. History would be fair in the regard that strategies and programmes aimed at reducing poverty were recorded most during the military administrations. Listed are some of the attempts of military governments to alleviate poverty;
YEAR ADMINISTRATION POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAM
1972 Gen. Yakubu Gowon National Accelerated Food Production Programme
1976 Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo Operation Feed the Nation
1984 Gen. Muhamadu Buhari Go Back to Land
1986 Gen. Ibrahim Babangida Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure ; Better Life Programme
1993 Gen. Sanni Abacha Family Support Programme ; Family Economic Advancement Programme
Having evoked memories of these inglorious khakistocrats, I need to quickly issue a caveat here before someone goes for my jugular- that the aforelisted poverty alleviation programmes were perceived by a large proportion of the population as pipelines through which the military siphoned public funds as most of these programmes turned out to be a colossal waste of financial resources.
My grounds for crediting the military is the initiative behind most of these programmes, they all have as their focus harnessing the potentials of Agriculture to guarantee food security and sustainability in the country.
As a student of politics, I was made to understand that the worst civilian administration is better than any military government (even the one that rules with a human face). This averment may not hold true considering the fainthearted efforts of past civilian governments in the past fifteen (15) years to guarantee food security and revolutionize the agricultural sector of the economy.
In fairness to the successive past civilian governments, their contribution to the Agricultural sector did not go unnoticed and worthy of not is the strides the incumbent administration is making under the visionary and forward-looking leadership of Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the Minister of Agriculture.
Research has shown that Agricultural Revolution is a surefire way countries of the global south can accelerate their economic growth and development (‘Yemi Thomas, 2014). A testament to this is the South African economy whom despite the non-abundance of rain and poor soil in her region has through effective irrigation and improved farming methods backed by committed government policies created jobs for thousands of unemployed and lifted many families out of poverty. This economic “deliverance” and developmental “miracle” did not go unnoticed on the global stage as international development economist and emerging markets expert, Jim O’Neill have in year 2010 designated South Africa as one economy to watch out for developmentally in his fastest developing economies listing – BRICS. (BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is an economic consortium of fast growing economies of the world. It is interesting to know that Nigeria is also among the MINT countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).
One of the measures of good governance is poverty reduction and poverty can sustainably be reduced through sound agricultural policies. Nigeria is in dire need of a structural transformation and economic reengineering that focuses on growing indigenous enterprise and deliberately removing obstructions on the path of political reforms in the agricultural sector that will guarantee sustainable food security in the land.
Prior to the Oil boom of the sixties and a decade after, agricultural exports represents what oil exports is to us now in the international economy. According to data from the World Bank, 74% of Nigeria’s revenue comes from non-oil (majorly agricultural exports) as at 1970. Sadly yet paradoxically today, despite the retrogressive nature and counter-developmental realities of crude oil, it accounts for over 74% of gross national revenue reversing the statistics. Whither our groundnut pyramids? Extinct is our cocoa and rubber plantation; while Nigeria exported 502 metric tons of groundnuts in 1961 which was 42% of global production as at the time, we currently export nothing (Oby Ezekwesili, 2014). Our groundnut pyramids and vast cocoa, palm oil and rubber plantation have now become folk tales.
Better late than never, the Government should retrace its steps by laying a solid foundation for agriculture to thrive in the country. Through incentives and sound agricultural policies, the government should make farming attractive so that the Yoruba axiom, “Agbe loba” meaning “A Farmer is King” would become a reality rather than a consolatory remark. Besides, the government should embark on a nationwide integrated rural development by strengthening the third tier of government-the Local Government to live up to its responsibilities in this regard. Since majority of the 79% of the Nigerian poor are form the rural areas, it is crucially pertinent that the rural people are empowered to be productively engaged as this would stem the tide of Rural – (already overpopulated) Urban migration. Needless to expound the huge potentials in the largely untapped Nigeria’s vast agriculture value-chain; therefore, our agricultural research institutes should be revitalized through regular and adequate funding to cater for manpower development in the sector.
Idleness above any other ideological sentiments is the reason why the Boko Haram terrorists/insurgents gained grounds in the first place. Most of the sect’s members are almajiris; destitutes with no hope of a lease of quality life.
Truth is those boys are hungry and they’ve always been hungry; that is why some unscrupulous and accursed persons or “institutions” took advantage of their hunger to unleash mayhem and create upheaval in the polity.
I share the sentiment that poverty and desperation is the compelling reason why people take to crime and other social vices. If jobs are created and prospects of taking to farming and agric is made attractive and lucrative, I am certain that armed robbery, maiming, insurgency, terrorism, militancy and crime generally would be at an all-time low in the country.
The stomach is an important infrastructure to be developed; its owner should be empowered through sustainable legitimate venture to service it when its needs arise. Any government/administration that invests in human capital and lifts its citizenry out of poverty is rest assured of reelection at the polls. The masses are tired of disoriented governance and developmental policies that do not have direct bearing on their economic lives. Abraham Maslow (1954) in his popular “Hierarchy of Needs” placed physiological needs of food, clothing and shelter amongst others at the lowest rung of human needs. He posited that human needs are hierarchical in nature, and that when one need on the hierarchy is substantially satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator of behavior and the individual becomes concerned with the next higher other need. The application and implication of this theory to governance is that it’s only when citizens’ hunger needs are met before they can share the strategic vision [flyovers, integrated bus rapid transit system and other state-developing infrastructural projects] of any administration.
Even as the 9/8/2014 Osun gubernatorial elections and 2015 general elections draws near, public office holders should not be seen under hot scorching sun only when they want to canvass for the masses’ vote and disconnect from them upon assumption of office. The people may be poor but they are not stupid; their power is in their collective voice and votes as enshrined in the terms of the social contract they entered in with the government.
The June 21 Ekiti elections is a watershed in the history of Nigeria’s politics and the lessons are there for those nursing the ambition to take up any public office. Slowly yet surely, transactional politics would soonest give way to transformative and transcendental politics and governance, but until then, I would always encourage the masses to put their votes where their stomachs are.
Addendum:
Ogun State Civil Servants deliberately oblivious of the infrastructural revolution taking place in the state should have course to smile to the bank now given the approval for the payment of their outstanding perks and salary arrears by Governor Ibikunle Amosun FCA- {my indefatigable senior professional colleague infamous for his frugal nearly tight-fisted stance at “cash flow”}. I hope the timing of his magnanimous gesture would not be interpreted as a move to appease the AMG (Amosun-Must-Go) alliance. Aregbesola should not be losing sleep over the impending elections if his welfarist maybe “Awoist” policies are popular as claimed by him. Fingers are crossed; waiting and watching to see how far the politics of the “anointed” governor would fly in Lagos come 2015.
Happy New Month all.
Stomach Infrastructure is the latest buzzword in Nigerian political lexicon. It was popularized by Cheta Nwanze and retweeted by Japheth Omojuwa {I stand to be corrected} on his blog in the wake of the recently concluded (June 21) Ekiti gubernatorial elections. Active users on the popular social media- Twitter should be familiar with these personages.
Stomach Infrastructure is a term used to describe the economic impact of hunger and poverty on the political choices and decisions of citizens during electioneering and other political activities (‘Yemi Thomas, 2014). The term presupposes the influence the economic wellbeing of citizens has on their political choices. In its literal depiction, it exposits the citizens’ political sympathy on prospective public office holders who have touched their lives through handouts of food items, money and other poverty soothing (sic) schemes. It makes a case for the benefactor-beneficiary relationship between politicians and the electorate. The most common variation of Stomach Infrastructure is “Money-for-votes”, which is a timeless tool employed by unscrupulous elites and politicians to influence votes in favor of their candidates.
The interesting aspect about this theme is that it yet brings to the fore the widespread poverty that pervades the land. A large number of the population lives in a state of despair and hopelessness such that desperation to eke a living has led many to engage in various social vices such as thievery, armed robbery, prostitution, thuggery, miscreancy[Agbero], advanced fee fraud[419] and other social endangerments. Frustrated unemployed graduates who seeks an easy way out takes to Cybercrime [yahoo-yahoo], Voodoo Cyber-fraud [Yahoo-plus], corporate prostitution, kidnapping, armed militancy, money rituals…….In the same vein, this evil of poverty has yet provoked an awakening of latent business potentials in many who conceive of great business ideas but got stuck because they lack the capital to commercialize the business venture.
Poverty is a fallout of leadership failure that has characterized successive administrations that had governed this blessed country at one point in time or another. It’s paradoxical to grapple with the fact that the level of poverty being experienced under civilian rule is greater than the one experienced during the military’s interregnum in Nigerian politics. History would be fair in the regard that strategies and programmes aimed at reducing poverty were recorded most during the military administrations. Listed are some of the attempts of military governments to alleviate poverty;
YEAR ADMINISTRATION POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAM
1972 Gen. Yakubu Gowon National Accelerated Food Production Programme
1976 Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo Operation Feed the Nation
1984 Gen. Muhamadu Buhari Go Back to Land
1986 Gen. Ibrahim Babangida Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure ; Better Life Programme
1993 Gen. Sanni Abacha Family Support Programme ; Family Economic Advancement Programme
Having evoked memories of these inglorious khakistocrats, I need to quickly issue a caveat here before someone goes for my jugular- that the aforelisted poverty alleviation programmes were perceived by a large proportion of the population as pipelines through which the military siphoned public funds as most of these programmes turned out to be a colossal waste of financial resources.
My grounds for crediting the military is the initiative behind most of these programmes, they all have as their focus harnessing the potentials of Agriculture to guarantee food security and sustainability in the country.
As a student of politics, I was made to understand that the worst civilian administration is better than any military government (even the one that rules with a human face). This averment may not hold true considering the fainthearted efforts of past civilian governments in the past fifteen (15) years to guarantee food security and revolutionize the agricultural sector of the economy.
In fairness to the successive past civilian governments, their contribution to the Agricultural sector did not go unnoticed and worthy of not is the strides the incumbent administration is making under the visionary and forward-looking leadership of Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the Minister of Agriculture.
Research has shown that Agricultural Revolution is a surefire way countries of the global south can accelerate their economic growth and development (‘Yemi Thomas, 2014). A testament to this is the South African economy whom despite the non-abundance of rain and poor soil in her region has through effective irrigation and improved farming methods backed by committed government policies created jobs for thousands of unemployed and lifted many families out of poverty. This economic “deliverance” and developmental “miracle” did not go unnoticed on the global stage as international development economist and emerging markets expert, Jim O’Neill have in year 2010 designated South Africa as one economy to watch out for developmentally in his fastest developing economies listing – BRICS. (BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is an economic consortium of fast growing economies of the world. It is interesting to know that Nigeria is also among the MINT countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).
One of the measures of good governance is poverty reduction and poverty can sustainably be reduced through sound agricultural policies. Nigeria is in dire need of a structural transformation and economic reengineering that focuses on growing indigenous enterprise and deliberately removing obstructions on the path of political reforms in the agricultural sector that will guarantee sustainable food security in the land.
Prior to the Oil boom of the sixties and a decade after, agricultural exports represents what oil exports is to us now in the international economy. According to data from the World Bank, 74% of Nigeria’s revenue comes from non-oil (majorly agricultural exports) as at 1970. Sadly yet paradoxically today, despite the retrogressive nature and counter-developmental realities of crude oil, it accounts for over 74% of gross national revenue reversing the statistics. Whither our groundnut pyramids? Extinct is our cocoa and rubber plantation; while Nigeria exported 502 metric tons of groundnuts in 1961 which was 42% of global production as at the time, we currently export nothing (Oby Ezekwesili, 2014). Our groundnut pyramids and vast cocoa, palm oil and rubber plantation have now become folk tales.
Better late than never, the Government should retrace its steps by laying a solid foundation for agriculture to thrive in the country. Through incentives and sound agricultural policies, the government should make farming attractive so that the Yoruba axiom, “Agbe loba” meaning “A Farmer is King” would become a reality rather than a consolatory remark. Besides, the government should embark on a nationwide integrated rural development by strengthening the third tier of government-the Local Government to live up to its responsibilities in this regard. Since majority of the 79% of the Nigerian poor are form the rural areas, it is crucially pertinent that the rural people are empowered to be productively engaged as this would stem the tide of Rural – (already overpopulated) Urban migration. Needless to expound the huge potentials in the largely untapped Nigeria’s vast agriculture value-chain; therefore, our agricultural research institutes should be revitalized through regular and adequate funding to cater for manpower development in the sector.
Idleness above any other ideological sentiments is the reason why the Boko Haram terrorists/insurgents gained grounds in the first place. Most of the sect’s members are almajiris; destitutes with no hope of a lease of quality life.
Truth is those boys are hungry and they’ve always been hungry; that is why some unscrupulous and accursed persons or “institutions” took advantage of their hunger to unleash mayhem and create upheaval in the polity.
I share the sentiment that poverty and desperation is the compelling reason why people take to crime and other social vices. If jobs are created and prospects of taking to farming and agric is made attractive and lucrative, I am certain that armed robbery, maiming, insurgency, terrorism, militancy and crime generally would be at an all-time low in the country.
The stomach is an important infrastructure to be developed; its owner should be empowered through sustainable legitimate venture to service it when its needs arise. Any government/administration that invests in human capital and lifts its citizenry out of poverty is rest assured of reelection at the polls. The masses are tired of disoriented governance and developmental policies that do not have direct bearing on their economic lives. Abraham Maslow (1954) in his popular “Hierarchy of Needs” placed physiological needs of food, clothing and shelter amongst others at the lowest rung of human needs. He posited that human needs are hierarchical in nature, and that when one need on the hierarchy is substantially satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator of behavior and the individual becomes concerned with the next higher other need. The application and implication of this theory to governance is that it’s only when citizens’ hunger needs are met before they can share the strategic vision [flyovers, integrated bus rapid transit system and other state-developing infrastructural projects] of any administration.
Even as the 9/8/2014 Osun gubernatorial elections and 2015 general elections draws near, public office holders should not be seen under hot scorching sun only when they want to canvass for the masses’ vote and disconnect from them upon assumption of office. The people may be poor but they are not stupid; their power is in their collective voice and votes as enshrined in the terms of the social contract they entered in with the government.
The June 21 Ekiti elections is a watershed in the history of Nigeria’s politics and the lessons are there for those nursing the ambition to take up any public office. Slowly yet surely, transactional politics would soonest give way to transformative and transcendental politics and governance, but until then, I would always encourage the masses to put their votes where their stomachs are.
Addendum:
Ogun State Civil Servants deliberately oblivious of the infrastructural revolution taking place in the state should have course to smile to the bank now given the approval for the payment of their outstanding perks and salary arrears by Governor Ibikunle Amosun FCA- {my indefatigable senior professional colleague infamous for his frugal nearly tight-fisted stance at “cash flow”}. I hope the timing of his magnanimous gesture would not be interpreted as a move to appease the AMG (Amosun-Must-Go) alliance. Aregbesola should not be losing sleep over the impending elections if his welfarist maybe “Awoist” policies are popular as claimed by him. Fingers are crossed; waiting and watching to see how far the politics of the “anointed” governor would fly in Lagos come 2015.
Happy New Month all.
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