We are all concerned about the rising tide of insecurity, arising from increased poverty and inequality. But poverty itself is a far greater, but silent killer, that does not hit the headlines. Increased poverty is leading to greater hunger that weakens the body, especially of the elderly and very young. This in turn increases the death rate. In addition, the teeming masses of poor people can no longer afford to pay for medical tests and the necessary medicines. The result is clear and inevitable.
The above graph suggests that over 60% of deaths of children under-five are preventable (all the excess deaths beyond the richest quintile) – around 35,000 a year. That is more than three times the total annual deaths from insecurity.
More than half of the under-five deaths – 64 per cent – result from malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea (which should all be easily treatable). Malaria is a major public health concern in Nigeria, with an estimated 70 million cases and 200 thousand deaths due to the disease in 2021 alone.
There are perhaps 50 thousand maternal deaths a year and 250 thousand babies die at birth and 700 thousand before their fifth birthday each year. This compares to perhaps 10 thousand deaths from insecurity a year in Nigeria.
For more details read the following UNICEF report:
https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media/1636/file/Nigeria-equity-profile-health.pdf
But poverty is increasing and leads to increased insecurity:
Graph from IMF February, 2024
The jump in poverty levels from November 2020 to April 2021 was after Covid lock-down. The increase from November 2022 to August 2023 was due to petrol price increase etc. These jumps both had associated huge increases in insecurity.
So 22 million more people are now in poverty than in 2020. If only one in 100 of these extra hungry people resort to crime or other forms of insecurity, that is 220,000 extra criminals – that is three times the number of people currently in prison.
On 13th February, 2024, according to Premium Times, “The alarming rates of poverty and unemployment contribute substantially to the proliferation of violence and insecurity”, the National Security Advisor, Nuhu Ribadu, said. “The inability of some citizens to meet basic needs leads them to take up arms against the state, compounding security challenges”, he added.
We should all be campaigning to end poverty and inequality. The best starting point would be to win a decent minimum wage. This is needed to end the silent increase in death rates from poverty, but also because increased poverty and inequality also leads to increased crime and insecurity.
