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UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
@ TOPIC &3
POVERTY AND RETRENCHMENT IN THE NIGERIAN PUBLIC @I SECTOR: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
PRESENTED IN PARTIA FOR THE COU
BY OSUKPAI, BENJAMIN N.
200616 I43292
% m
b
LECTURER: 4 s . TERRl EMEZl
P
& SEPTEMBER, 2007 @
R
DEDICATION
I dedicate this piece of work to my father, Chief Uyo Osukpai who has
i // ' contributed in one way or the other towards making sure that I tEbp not a victim to
poverty and retrenchment.
DEDICATION
I dedicate this piece of work to my father, Chief Uyo Osukpai who has
i // contributed in one way or the other towards making sure that I not a victim to
poverty and retrenchment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, I am highly indepted to the Almighty God for his faithfulness and
sustenance which no man can grant me. I also sincerely appreciate and thank my
lecturer, Mrs. T. Emezi who assisted me through teaching and making this work a huge
success.
Finally, my humble appreciation goes to my friends and well-wishers who have
contributed immensely through advices, encouragements and prayers so that this work
will stand a test of time.
PREFACE
This book contains all the required scheme on the topic on poverty and
retrenchment in the Nigerian Public sector. It covers up the areas of poverty seen in the
country, its relevant causes and characteristics on how we can alleviate poverty and its
possible means or solution on tackling this critical situation.
It was written to help human live beyond the expected denomination of huge and
to know their status over the circumstance on situation so as not to arise in the
formation of this concept (poverty).
It also help people who thinks that they are poor and give hope to the hopeless
ones by given a means of eradicating such a disease.
Basically, in our political environment to which it teached them on how to utilize
of financial management and administration of which will help in improving and the
standardization of the economy.
In fact, it is a work which have design for educating the public on how to live and
plan so as to avoid this dreadful disease (poverty).
In conclusion, it is good to read this book chapter by chapter with discernment so
as to understand the basic principles and it's analysis for a brighter future and to take
adequate measure against poverty.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Preface
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Concept of PovertyIRetrenchment
1.2 IndividualPoverty
1.3 Poverty in Nigerian Public Sector
1.4 Retrenchment in Nigeria Public Sector
Chapter Two: Characteristics of Poverty
2.1 Low Income and Family
2.2 Large Family Size
2.3 Low Level of Productivity
Chapter Three: Causes of Poverty and Retrenchment
3.1 Family System
3.2 Material Inheritance
3.3 Lack of Pragmatism in National Education
Chapter Four: Policy Implication of Findings
4.1 Political Instability
4.2 Solution of Remedy of Concept
4.3 Conclusion b
Reference
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1 .I CONCEPT OF POVERTYIRETRENCHMENT
These two concepts of poverty and entrenchment can be seen as
unemployment. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines it as numbers of
the economically active population who are without work but available for and seeking
work, including people who have lost their jobs & those who have voluntarily left work.
Although there seems to be convergence on this concept, it applications have been
causing a lot of problems across countries. First, most published unemployment, rates
are recorded open employment. People's attitude on this varies from country to country,
while this may be high in developed countries and where government is committed to
resolving unemployment problems which, it is likely to be very low in countries with the
opposite attributes.
Okigbo (1991) also points out the problem arising from the concept of labour
force. In most countries, particularly in Nigeria, people below the age of 15 years and
those above the age of 55,who are actively engaged in economic activities we usually
excluded 'from labour statistical surveys. All these factors have the tendency to result in
underestimation of unemployment thereby making international comparison very
difficult. . In the framework of classical economists, the supply of labour is positive
relationship with productivity. As pointed out, if there is some involuntary unemployment
, at or below the current real wage, the real wage would fail to encourage employers to
- take more labour until all involuntary unemployment is eliminated. However, if increases
in labour productivity translate to increased wages and such increase induce the
substitution of capital for labour the effect on unemployment will be positive because
poverty and retrenchment have reduced. The policy implications of this have been
viewed as misleading particularly, to developing countries.
The evidence from the economic recession of the 1980s in Africa and Latin
America clearly show that real wages declined very sharply. This period of lower real
wages agreed with high level of unemployment that the available jobs.
Contrary to the strong belief of the neo-classical that equilibrium wage rate, price,
interest rate and real cash balances guarantee the quality of national output and full
employment level, the Keynesians strongly believe in the efficiency of aggregate
demands. So there is the need to avert the negative effects of unemployment which has
made the tackling of unemployment problems to feature very prominently in the
development objectives of many developing countries. Incidentally, most of these
countries economics are also characterized by low productivity. Thus, it seems very
clear are also characterized by low productivity. Thus, it seems very clear to many
policy makers that there must be a straight forward connection between productivity and
In view of the unfolding reality coupled with the protracted debates his paper
attempts to examine the dimensions of productivity and unemployment. Specifically, it
examines the dimensions of productivity and unemployment in Nigeria as well as the
direction of the causality between them
1.2 Individual Poverty
It is the one that result from individual misfortunes or the inability to obtain the
basic necessities of life for instance, essential clothing; three meals a day that are
nutritious; a habitable house and a means of transportation either by land sea or air.
Disadvantaged urban dwellers normally called urban poor are also in this category. On
the other hand, any group, community or nation that cannot provide basic needs for its
members who are poor has made poverty a more permanent feature with wide spread
insufficiency of materials for existence. For instance, the low income groups and the
slum dwellers in urban towns and cities are within these categories. In the above cases,
the individual is termed poor. The condition is such that the poor cannot acquire or
possess the usually acceptable amount of money or materials to sustain himself or
herself, the large family and this drags him or her to the border line of starvation or other
criminal strategies to acquire basic needs for existence. TherOefore, the poor are
dependent on the welfare or community leaders who enjoy low traditional and
conventional methods of health care. Such individuals live in traditional substandard
houses made up of mud or day, thatches or straw materials without health services. The
environment of the poor is usually filled with human wastes especially in the rural areas
and located in the out skirts of urban settlements called ghettos. Some people may be
poor because they spent more than their income which result to borrowing; and laziness
but what concerns a spirited individual, is that the poor is one who cannot acquire the
essential basic needs of life and has no stable means of providing or acquiring them.
1.3 Poverty in Nigerian Public Sector
Many people view poverty from different dimensions. Ordinarily, a layman will
view poverty as a situation where an individual could not provide for himself or herself
the basic needs of life such as food, shelter, clothing, simple means of transport and
essentials of good health and also has no access to the means of providing these basic
needs, such as cash inheritance of poverty, assistance from extended family
government and organizations. Others my view poverty as a micro-dimension such as
intellectual poverty, social poverty, political, managerial poverty and so on.
Poverty may be defined as the scarcity of human basic needs or the inability of
an indwidual or the society to acquire human basic needs for existence. It can effect
individual, groups or community of nation. Poverty can also be seen as a science that
seeks, in the sequence of certain phenomena, to trace mutual relations and to identify
cause and effect just as the physical sciences seek to do in order sets of phenomena.
This poverty is interwoven with progress, which is the great enigma of our times. It is
central fact from which spring industrial, social and political difficulties that perplex
Nigeria public sector and the order at large with which statemanship and philanthropy
and education grapple in vain. So as long as all the increased wealth which modern
progress bring goes to build up great fortunes, to increase luxury and sharper the
contrast between the house have and want, progress is not real and cannot be
permanent.
In Nigeria, we were made to know that the Nigerian labour market, with only
about 10 percent of them getting employment. This no doubt, portrays unemployment
as a very serious problem in the country. According to history, unemployment fell very
significantly after the 1987. It fell consistently from 7. 0 percent in 1987 to 3.2 percent in
1991. However, the estimated unemployment gap for Nigeria, indicates that the
unemployment rate varied between 7. 27 and 8. 0 between 1990 and 1998. Many
people who felt disseminated with searching for jobs refused to register thereby leading
to gross under - estimation of the unemployed. Okigbo (1986, 1991) also pointed out
that the concept of labour force adopted in the Nigerian labour force statistical survey,
which excluded people that were less than 15 and above 55 years but actively working,
is an important factors for gross underestimation of unemployment in the country. This
is further compounded by gross inconsistency in government documents. As argued by
Okigbo (1991) it also excludes people who have been categorized as incapable of
working but are willing to work example the handicapped. Also excluded from the labour
force are the full housewives who are willing to be engaged in a paid job. The large
number of unpaid family workers as a proportion of active worker is at climax level in
Nigeria public sector. As a result, many families are in abject poverty.
1.4 Retrenchment in Nigeria Public Sector
It is inconceivable that an administration enunciated employment creation as a
major hallmark of its reform will proceed to offload such a large number of people. The
inability to protect existing jobs shows that this government is merely paying up service b
to the allowed objective of creating seven million jobs needs framework.
Labour also wondered that in the face of this planned retrenchment, this
administration assurance of repackage the reforms in order to make them more citizens
friendly now seem utterly dubious and untenable.
The NLC called on prudent to appreciate that this is not the parting gift for
Nigerian workers and public services. This policy requires a rethink and much broader
contemplation of social and economic cost, as opposed to the pedestrian approach to
cost-benefit analysis, which is unfortunately dominant in presidential economic team. As
Mr. president himself admitted at the presidential retreat on the economy, which he
listed on thus "fighting unemployment is the most fundamental challenge of governance
today, we agree with our president on this imperative but insist that the starting point in
fighting unemployment is to preserve existing jobs as much as possible", the statement
observed.
Meanwhile, the NLC and its affiliates in the public sector would have resolve to
strategies towards engaging the measure, as its National Executive Council meeting will
further deliberate on the matter.
In 21'' century Britain affordable housing should not be just a dream.
Overcrowded housing and homeless rob children of opportunities to succeed.
CHAPTER TWO
CHARACTERISTICS OF POVERTY
2.1 Low Income and Family
When the income per individual is low, the country is below poverty line and that
country is considered poor. Nigeria is poor, because of the standard of living by the
citizens of pegged at N300 a day. This shows that the greater percentage of Nigerians
leave low standard of living beyond the datum of $1 per day. Hence, the degree of
poverty is enormous.
In other hand, a situation where there is a large number of children in a family
and they are working on a low income to which the amount earned cannot meet up with
the basic needs of children. These type of situation can cause or make the children
enter into what they do ndwant like going into prostitution, arm robbery and the rest of
them.
The decision to have many children can be a poverty indicator because large
family size is an attribute of low income per capital population. Large families facilitate ill
health, malnutrition, illiteracy, and high drop out rate as a result of low level education is
such an environment. b
Over-population in a country brings out the output of unavailability of resources.
When family is over sized they will be a lot of competition and criticism in a family
whereby the younger ones will be struggling to survive under such condition to which
lead to death to the weaker vessels because of hungry and starvation.
2.3 Low Level of Productivity
It is generally evident that productivity cannot be effective where there is
shortage of complementary factors like infrastructure, management and efficient
administration. Other cases are the use of primitive implement, high illiteracy rate
among the citizens. Lack of a proper training, low motivation, poor attitude to work and
SO on.
Productivity is an instrument for continuous progress and constant improvement
of activities. Productivity measures the relationship between the quantity and quality of
good and services produced and the quantity of resources needed to produce them.
Productivity is defines as the measure of how resources are being brought together in
organiastions and utilized Low 1-eve1 of Productivity for accomplishing a set of results
which means reaching the highest level of performance with the last expenditure of
resources. Productivity viewed as output per unit of input. Hence, higher productivity
connotes achieving the same volume of output with less factor inputs or more volume of
output with the same amount of factor inputs. Thus, increased productivity could result
from the reduction in the use of resources, reduction in cost, use of better methods or
improvement in factor capabilities; particularly labour.
Finally, given the low technological base of developing countries economics, the
quest or improved managerial capability and effectiveness should give the human factor
appropriate recognition and attension. While labour productivity seems to be the most
convenient to use, it is however, very important to note that this approach has an
important limitation. It treats labour as being homogenous instead of differentiating it
according to age, sex, education, application of skills, attitude, among others.
Nevertheless, this study applies productivity per worker as opposed to per capital or
total factor productivity.
CHAPTER THREE
CAUSES OF POVERN AND RETRENCHMENT
3.1 Family System
The Nigeria cultural system encourages large families, and extended families are
among the causes of poverty. This is because an individual that is not productive with
many wives and children including relatives who produces children that are uneducated
and unemployable thereby increasing the poverty nature of the society. In the same
vein, it can equally effect retrenchment because of large number of people being
employed in a family system, whereby plenty of citizen in different family. cue Rot
3.2 Material Inheritance
It is customarily acceptable in some parts of Nigeria for a mature brother to
inherit a dead brother's wife, children and property when this take place, and the woman
continues to deliver children for the new man there are tendencies of the former children
of the widow to be abandoned without inheriting their father's property. This is a major
poverty indicator in a population that has no special poverty alleviation programme for
widowed children.
3.3 Lack of Pragmatism in National Education
Individuals acquire theoretical education without relevant skills for jobs where
necessary. It is also a situation where a country over produces graduates in a non-
skilled oriented programme and attempts to truncate them into existing jobs where they
have no skills. An example is a graduate in classic education such as philosophy,
mathematics, religion, psychology, English, obtain loan for large scale production in
agriculture and technology similarly, making a graduate of law, medicine, pharmacy,
and engineering to become a director or minister of education where he or she or has
4 no training. And this may resulted to retren@ng of workers through which those that due
recruited into government services through illegal means may be retrenched by new
government in power, thereby bringing about poverty to such persons.
CHAPTER FOUR
POLICY IMPLICATION OF FINDINGS
The analysis presented above established some stylized facts about productivity
and unemployment in Nigeria. It is clearly evident that productivity is low in Nigeria.
Unemployment, on the other hand is very high in Nigeria economic sector. Evidence
from the analysis of productivity and employment linkage shows bi-causal relationships
in all the cases, except in the agricultural sector. The evidence therefore rejects the
neo-classical framework for productwity and employment linkage. The results of the
relationship between productivity and unemployment are mixed. The results show that
bi-causal relationships exist in the industrial sector while and unidirectional relationship
is established at the national level. However, no linkage is established in the
agricultural sector, thereby suggesting that rural unemployment, in most cases, may not
arise from the generalized deterioration in agricultural performance.
The result also show that contrary to the general expectation that an increase in
productivity leads to a reduction in employment, labour productivity is followed by labour
absorption at the current level at both the national level and agricultural sector. The
evidence from the industrial sector supports the general notion, where employers use
less labour to accomplish the same volume of output as productivity rises. Meanwhile
following the accelerator principle, additional labour is absorbed in the next period.
Some policy implication are discernible from the findings. Since more
employment means more income for the poor, which in turn implies a greater demand
for locally produced basic consumption goods, it is imperative for government to ensure
growth and development of the rural and small scale urban sectors. This should
consider, very seriously, encouraging people to establish more labour intensive small
scale enterprises which have the propensity to create more jobs and higher incomes.
This programme, if well implemented, could reverse the rural urban drift which has
seriously affected the urban employment. However in order to achieve this goal, a
complimentary policy of removing factor - price distributions and promoting labour -
intensive technologies of production may be required.
In line with finding from the industrial sector, while acknowledging the benefits of
economic competition, it should however be confined to relative productivity rather than
be allowed to spread into destructive wages and cost cutting exercises while this is a
sacrifice from the part of the private sector, public investment should also be directed
are improving productivity and supporting job creation.
4.1 Solution or Remedy of the Concept
All important as this question is pressing itself from every quarter painfully upon
attention, it has not yet received a solution which accounts for all the facts and points to
any clear and simple remedy. This is shown by the widely varying attempts to account
for the industrial depressions.
The ideas, which bring great masses of men, the expositive of ultimate political
power, under the leadership of tharlatans and demagogues, are fraught with danger, but
they cannot be successfully combated until political economy shall give some answer to
the ,great question which shall be consistent with all her teachings and shall commend
' itself to the perceptions of the great masses of men.
According to the theory of humble approach to development, it is appropriate for
government to ensure our citizen's active participation in formulating projects of which
they are supposed to the beneficiaries. Government should not presume that they know
what will benefit the poor better than the poor themselves. Projects should be embarked
upon the people need, not because some contractors who stand to profit from the
projects are pushing them.
In 1986 Gen Babagida established the director of food, roads and rural
infrastructure (DFRRI) for rural development. This was meant to provide feeder roads,
electricity and potable water and toilet facilities for the rural dwellers. The project gulped
N1.96 (about N80 million today's value) without Nigerian benefiting from them. Various
project were set up for poverty alleviation purposes. Amongst them, are the people
Bank of Nigeria and the community Bank of Nigeria. Neither did these financial
institution lived up to their expectation.
4.2 Political Instability
Our people said that whenever the "elephants are fighting the grasses suffer"
therefore when there is a political - instability in the state, the people go into hardship.
Constant changes in government without democratic system results in serious
political instability most importantly there is striking evidence of unequal distribution of b
the economy and earnings and this gives rise to poverty. A practical example is about
the actions NLC embarking on strike to make the government meet their demands.
These actions claimed a lot of life because of unavailable resources people cannot go
to the market to meet up with their desires as a result of the strike action.
During the tyranny or dictatorship found in Liberia in the regime of Charles Talor,
many people died and suffered because of instability of government. The government
, could no longer meet the demand of the public to which resulted to war. Due to such
situation, poverty and hunger became cousins.
4.3 Conclusion
From all that have been said, it goes without saying that it will take much move
than earnmarking N10 billion for poverty alleviation and retrenchment in Nigeria. There
are many forces that of not checked and put in proper place could seriously derail these
poverty alleviation programmes. There are the environmental forces, economic forces,
political, religious forces and attitude/cultural forces. The state of the Niger Delta
environmental degradation has been well documented and talked about in the country.
These people live-hood depend on crop and fish farming. Their land and water have
been laid waste due to the activities of the oil firms that are in the business of exploring
(oil) and exploiting the area. No amount of poverty alleviation measure will make a dent
in their lifes if they are prevented from doing what they know best, finding. Poverty
alleviation measure is the eradication of the erosion menace and the restoration of their
dignity and their source of livelihood. It is a true that disappointment has follow
disappointments. Discovery upon discovery and invention after invention have neither b
lessened the tool of those who most need respite now brought plenty to the poor. But
failure could be attributed that up to our time the new faith has hardly weakened. We
have better appreciate the difficulties to be overcome, but not the less trusted that the
tendency of the times was to overcome them.
And as such mistake are generally concealed by the respect paid to authority. I
propose in the inquiring to take nothing for granted. I propose to be no question, to
shank from no conclusion that we reach run counter to our prejudices. The economic
increase in the power of producing wealth would make real poverty a thing of the past.
REFERENCE
Diachaube, 0 . (1991); "Productivity and Economic Growth in Nigeria", Productivity for Self-Reliance and Excellence, National Productivity Centre, Lagos.
McCombie and Therlwall (1994) and Hussain and Nado (1997), Dike, Enwere and Ezenwe Uke (1986); "The Dual Economy and Surplus Labour: Reflections on Nigeria" in Unemployment and Underdevelopment in Nigeria, Annual Conference Proceedings of the Nigeria Economic Society, Kaduna, May 13 - 17.
Cordon, D. F. (1976); "A New-Classical Theory of Keynesian Unemployment; The Phillips Cure and Labour Markets Vol. 1, of the Carneqie- Rochester Conferences on Public Policy, a Supplementary Series to the Journal of Monetary Economics".
Simbeye, 1992; Okolie 1995; Roberts and Tybout 1997, Mali 1978:6 Growing up in Oguta : (The Economic of Rural Poverty in Nigeria).
This Articles Cited by Cornelia Dr. Y Ovandgecandy Claycomb. HomelAbout us IAdvertisinglContract Copyright @ 1998 - 2006 Vanguard Media Limited.
Richard Germain (2003) Does Knowledge Mediate the Effect of Control of Performance Some Initial Evidence, Decision Sciences 34:3, 541 - 568.
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