POVERTY.

Why do we relate money to love? Why do women tag a poor man as being unlovable? Why do we place placards of frustration above the heads of a poor man that is in love? Why are poor men discriminated in the society of women? Why do women rely solely on men for their daily upkeep?.

This and more are questions that paraded my mind as I peeped through my window to know the cause of the early morning uproar in the compound, and as expected, Baba Aduke and Mama Aduke are at it again! With the latter accusing the former of not living up to his responsibilities as a father and Also of being lazy. I saw fear, guilt, shame glowing from the eyes of Baba Aduke as he faces this early morning disgrace Mama Aduke subjected him to.

The crowd at the scene is increasing as if they were all prepared for the fight earlier. Baby Aduke, a five year old, thin, short girl who is a clear testimony of poverty sits at a distant corner watching the scene her mother is acting. Imagine, the little girl understands the meaning of poverty at her tender age. Amidst pleas and begs from the so-called sympathisers and Baba Aduke which seems to fall on Mama Aduke deaf ears, all we heard was GBOAH! The pleas seems not enough as Mama Aduke slapped the now helpless Baba Aduke with maximum anger. Then and then I got angered, annoyed and hatred flowed through my spine as manhood is being disgrace in my presence with no one to come to the rescue. Because of poverty.

Poverty seems to be a normal phenomenon in the society I find myself today, Africa, and according to The World Bank, Africa is the poorest continent in the world. Why? Is it because our people don't work/labour? Or our ill luck chose that for us? Of course not! It is evident that people of our continent hustle hard daily in order to make ends meet, yet why does poverty exists so much amidst us. Baba Aduke is a civil servant in a remote area of Ibadan, Nigeria. A graduate of The Polytechnic Ibadan with his OND and HND certificate with accountancy as his discipline. The man in his early thirties couldn't withstand the shame he was subjected to as he stormed out of the scene. Oh! What a disgrace.

Just as this occurrence is, many of such is also happening across the countries in Africa which can be dated as far as the inception of the continent. That is, poverty has always existed among us in Africa from the days of our forefathers till date. This is a disheartening situation in the society of which the governments efforts to curb it proves abortive.

Many students dropout of school on yearly basis in Africa because of poverty. Many youths has resorted to criminal activities because of poverty. Many now indulge in internet fraudulent activities (YAHOO) because of the prevailing spirit of poverty existing amidst us. Corruption is the order of the day in Africa as everyone wants to exit the gathering of the poor by all means, be it legal or illegal. The effects of poverty in the society is posing a serious threat to our future in Africa. The picture of the future of my father's land is blur because of poverty.

After much survey, it is noted that the main cause of poverty in Africa is "Negligence and our lackadaisical attitude towards things that matters". The black race believes His failure or doom is caused by his fellow counterpart in the same field he ventures into, hereby tackling his problem with a wrong solution. We tend to neglect the truth and facts and stick to our myths and beliefs that are most of the times wrong or not adequate to tackle our problems. In the course of seeking wrong antidote to our problems, we end up wasting valuable time of our life, and when we realise, little or nothing can be done to recover from our slumber,hence, poverty creeps in. This as being the sequence of the average man in Africa, yet little or nothing has being done to curb this. To change our mentality!

Although, this isn't the story behind all the poor ones in Africa, but 90% of them are doomed by this cause. Some other causes of poverty also include; ill luck, political instability, hereditary, War, Famine, Natural disasters and Illiteracy. Above all, irrespective of the cause, it remains evident that poverty is bad and irritating. No-one would feel happy to be associated with a poor man.

Hence Dear Reader, double your hustle, aim at your goals with reasonable calculated actions, leave myths and beliefs alone (but never despise tradition) and focus on your Dream. For without hard work and determination, no one can achieve lasting success.

See you destroying your garment of poverty soonest and riding on the horse of riches dear reader. Yes You Can!

WRITTEN BY; SANUSI EMMANUEL