The rampant failure of social services around the world, especially in Africa has led to mass discontent among the citizens, as governments raise their hopes only to dash them violently against brick walls. This failure is so widespread and consistent that government is being unconsciously displaced in the provision of many public services. In Nigeria, without any formal privatization exercise, government is being replaced in the provision of most social services, including health, education, transportation and low-level security.
Over the past several years, and in an accelerating fashion, citizens have watched with shock how governments have recklessly violated every covenant with the people, which gave it the impetus to govern, especially the duty to protect lives and property. Individuals and non-governmental organizations are rapidly taking on some of the most sacred duties of government. Social entrepreneurship is on the rise.
It is against this background, that the influence of government has continued to wane as consensus public building is replaced by impunity and self-help. Public policy is now viewed with suspicion, disbelief and nonchalance. Many public policies and projects are seen more as serving the interest of politicians than the people; and many policies have actually proved to be so across national and subnational levels. The damning poverty in the country, now at over 40 per cent, has prompted government to propose to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, over the next ten years. To many Nigerians, who have now become very sceptical of government pronouncements, this looks like a dream or even outright headless arrogant audacity of hope, with over 33 percent of the people unemployed. Well, dreams and hopes are critical for the sustenance of life.
It is difficult to argue successfully that Nigeria has moved significantly away from its sordid past, rooted in endemic corruption, when unaccountable and unrepresentative military rule destroyed its fabrics
Dreams are legitimate enterprises, in which anyone can engage and they are completely free. Indeed, people are taking the liberty to harvest a lot of dreams these days, especially as the symptoms of COVID 19 (which are known to rigorously mimic those of malaria),become rife in our communities. When a peasant begins to exchange phone numbers with the president in his dream, Nigerians recommend malaria drugs.
One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations is to end extreme poverty by the year 2050. Clearly, many people will justifiably dismiss this goal, as far as Nigeria is concerned, especially with the memories of the calamity that befell Vision 2010 and 2020. Those two dreams, or visions, fell flat on their faces. They envisioned the transformation of Nigeria to a united democratic society, committed to making the basic needs of life affordable, and creating Africa’s leading economy. However, opinions diverge considerable as to whether Nigeria succeeded or failed in achieving those goals. It is difficult to argue successfully that Nigeria has moved significantly away from its sordid past, rooted in endemic corruption, when unaccountable and unrepresentative military rule destroyed its fabrics. Poverty has become the norm.
The problem with poverty is that it is not necessarily the result of laziness, or the fault of the poor. So many poor people in Africa, which is home to the top ten poorest countries of the world led by Burundi, are living in very richly endowed countries. According to Eli Khamarov, who is famous for his mathematical skills, poverty is like a punishment, which one serves for a crime one didn’t commit, because it is often the negative externality of poor leadership. Consider a young unemployed Nigerian who, after several years of struggle with lack of basic utilities emigrates to the United States, where he gets employed and gains access to bank credit with which he is able to afford most of his personal needs. He is immediately transported from poverty to life above the poverty line, merely by changing environment. We could see therefore that his poverty was simply a result of things outside his control – the outcome of policy decisions by those entrusted with the leadership of his country. Many people are in this condition in several countries because somebody, not connected to them, has failed to do the right thing. Social enterprises are offering to help.
Corrupt, intolerant and dictatorial governments are often responsible for turning what could be rich nations into poor ones. This is why Africa continues to host the most wretched of nations, led by Burundi, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – the three poorest countries in the world. Most of them countries have a sordid history of corruption, strife, disregard for the rule of law and incompetent leadership. The mess created by incompetent state actors, leading to mass poverty, has become theduty of nonstate actors, like social entrepreneurs, which seek to do business and do good together. We shall look at ways to make their work easier in the next few weeks.
