Why African Countries Remain Poor

 By Olufemi Oyedele

There are two types of poverty; extreme and relative. Extreme poverty is a state or condition of lack of basic needs like food, housing, clothing, transport, education, medicals and security, and a position of hopelessness of people. It is generally experienced by those living on less than $1.99 daily. All nations are endowed with natural resources that are supposed to make them live above the poverty threshold and, in the olden days, human beings naturally settled in communities that provided them with basic needs of living—food, water, shelter, medicals and security and safety from attacks. Gross domestic product per capita is considered an important method to compare how poor or wealthy countries are in relation to each other.

The average GDP of Africa is the lowest amongst the seven continents (Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia and Europe) at $9,700 (2021). Africa has the highest number of countries on its continent with 54 countries. With natural resources, especially arable land, rain forest, adequate sun, mineral resources and human resources, no African country is supposed to be poor.

Nigeria: A Culture Of Substandard Living

By Passy Amaraegbu

“All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, (suicide) losing, cheating, and mediocrity are easy. Stay away from ease.”

 – Scott Alexander

One major way to measure the degree of development in any society is the value she placed on human life. Even animals operate with the instinct that human life is sacred. This is the reason they initially exhibit fear and flight when they encounter human beings.

Consequently, every progressive human society focuses on the double task of preserving and improving the lives of mortals. Some European and even Asian nations have perfected in this crucial task to a high degree that the elderly cohort (65 and above) form a significant part of their population. In other words, the life expectancy of such nations is high. For instance, the UN 2015 world life expectancy of Nigerian is 52.29 years, UK is 80.45, and Japan is 83.74. The main reason for this divergent disparity in the life expectancy of nations is based on the different values these nations place on the lives of their citizens.