I have come to the conclusion that no matter how a government or an economy is operated, the saying “there will always be the poor among us” always finds a way to apply, and this is naturally evident in almost all settings.
I am saying this because sometimes it is not as though the government intentionally implements policies to make the poor or average citizens suffer while the rich enjoy all the benefits. No, it does not always happen that way.
For example, Nigeria some years ago was operating with a fuel subsidy. This meant a situation whereby the government paid a certain amount to make fuel affordable for everyone, especially the poor. When the current president was sworn in, he removed the fuel subsidy with the intention of saving funds and channeling them into developing the country. At that moment, the price of fuel skyrocketed to the point that even average Nigerians were struggling to buy it...fuel is a very necessary commodity. The effect of the increase in fuel price did not stop at the fuel stations alone; it affected everything, and the cost of almost everything doubled, including the price of eggs. Lol 😂
As it is currently, the poor are bearing the burden more because the rich, although still feeling the impact to some extent, have enough resources to cover the high cost of fuel more easily compared to how severely it affects the poor. It is now beginning to look as though the policy was implemented primarily to hunt the poor, whereas it was actually intended to benefit everyone in the long run.
Meanwhile, this is not disputing the fact that some laws and policies are introduced into the system where favoritism is largely centered on the rich rather than the poor or the average citizen.
There is a common practice of the government in my country where social amenities are mostly allocated to cities where the “big people” live, while villages are left to languish in poor living conditions. For instance, if $1,000,000,000 is set aside for development as the annual budget, it does not surprise us anymore to see that not even 0.1% of this money is used in the villages. Everything is centered in the city, and the worst part is that when most of these projects are traced, they end up benefiting the rich in the city as well. If you have not noticed this type of situation, then it simply means you have not been observant.
In the city where I live, there is a particular area where rich people reside, and there is always constant electricity supply in that area, while other parts of the city suffer frequent blackouts. You might want to ask how that is possible. The electricity supply is tapped directly from a bigger nearby city to serve that particular area. The worst part is that every now and then, people complain, and the government keeps allocating funds to stabilize electricity supply, but these funds are only channeled to that particular area. Meanwhile, the power company branch in the city always finds ways to defend the electricity operations in the town. Sometimes I wish I had superpowers to kill people from afar... wahala go dey oooh!
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Week 202, Edition 02 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community
Image: MetaAI