By Linus Aleke
One of the major problems confronting Nigeria and indeed other nations of the world today is the outrageous rate of unemployment, which, if not tackled will affect countries adversely.

Research findings by scholars in sociology and criminology have linked insecurity in society to a high rate of unemployment. The popular axiom, “An idle mind is a devil’s workshop,” also supports the above findings by scholars.

Nigeria is today confronted with all manners of security threats and other societal ills, ranging from terrorism, insurgency, banditry, farmer/herders clashes, kidnapping, secessionist agitation, killings by unknown gunmen, ritual killings, and organ harvest known as (Yahoo Plus), the list is endless, but that is a story for another day.

In 2018, Nigeria surpassed India as the world’s poverty capital, with around 87 million people living in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million.

Three other African nations queue behind Nigeria in this inglorious position. They include the Democratic Republic of Congo which has an estimated 67 million poor citizens, Madagascar with over 21 million poor citizens, and Angola with around 18 million poor citizens.

The 2018 report by Brookings Institution, also projected that “by the end of 2018, in Africa as a whole, there will probably be about 3.2 million more people living in extreme poverty than there are today.

“Africans account for about two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor and if current trends persist, Africa will account for nine-tenths by 2030”.

Regrettably, fourteen out of 18 countries in the world where the number of extreme poor is rising are in Africa.

Painfully, rather than diminish the figure from 87 million, when Nigeria took over from India in 2018, through well-thought government policies and programmes, aimed at lifting more and more Nigerians out of extreme poverty, the sector has been running on autopilot and the consequences is that more and more people are joining the leprous status of extremely poor people on earth.

The latest report by World Poverty Clock shows that more Nigerians have been plunged into extreme poverty since November 2019.

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According to the latest figure, “Over 105 million Nigerians now live in extreme poverty. This figure grew from 98 million in October 2019. The figures represent 51 per cent of the population”.

Nigeria, according to the World Poverty Clock, has a total population of 205,323,520 people with 105,097,856 in extreme poverty representing 51 per cent of the population.

An individual is classified as living in extreme poverty if the person earns below $1.90 or N855 a day.

What the current statistics show is that the gap is widening instead of closing up.

India did not exit the infamous position through wishful thinking but through planned government policies and programmes aimed at lifting its citizens out of poverty. They gradually and progressively empowered its citizens with the needed skills to exit extreme poverty until Nigeria shamefully took over the infamous position from her.
Meanwhile, it will be unfair to the incumbent administration to aver that there are no policies and programmes aimed at lifting Nigerians out of extreme poverty. But the problem had been that these interventionists’ programme of government are not getting to the intended beneficiaries.

Those in the corridors of power often hijack the funds and use them to settle their family members, friends, and cronies as well as party members.

This is the reason why extreme poverty continues to increase in leaps and bounds despite huge investments in the sector. It is also shameless that the government, most times politicize these Programmes. The government epitomized this politicization in the programme, it is code-named “trader money”.

The only commendable efforts, though infinitesimal, is the individual and group efforts aimed at helping the poor in their midst take a step out of extreme poverty.

One such rare effort which, occurs sparingly, is the recent graduation ceremony of the Nigerian Air Force Officers’ Wives Association (NAFOWA), Skills Acquisition and Vocational Training Programme, which took place on 28 April 2022, at the NAFOWA National Secretariat, Abuja.

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Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Special Guest of Honour and incumbent Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, commended the efforts of the Nigerian Air Force Officers’ Wives Association (NAFOWA), for empowering the dependents of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel and the less privileged in the society.

He posited that such efforts have impacted positively ongoing NAF operations.

In a statement on Friday in Abuja, the Director of Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet quoted the CAS, as saying that humanitarian assistance and knowledge acquisition programmes by NAFOWA have helped to keep the home front stable thereby ensuring full commitment on the part of NAF personnel in the discharge of their duties.

Amao noted that NAFOWA’s efforts were also in line with one of the key drivers of his vision that harps on the pursuit of purposeful training and human capacity development.

He said the training acquired by the graduands will no doubt compliment the numerous poverty alleviation programmes of the Federal Government aimed at reducing unemployment, especially amongst youths and women.

“The programme was a means of financial independence, self-reliance, prosperity, and personal development for the beneficiaries and their families and when the acquired skills are combined with other forms of academic endeavours, it offers infinite options and opportunities for employment and self-actualization,” he further averred.
Amao also urged the graduands to make the best use of their starter packs and appealed to the organizers of the vocational training programme to monitor the beneficiaries’ progress to ensure that the objective of the programme was achieved.

Earlier in her welcome address, the National President of NAFOWA, Mrs Elizabeth Olubunmi Amao, noted that in her quest to provide service to humanity, she had explored several options that could add meaningful value to the lives of women and youths in NAF bases across the country.

This quest, according to Mrs Amao, lead to the birth of the vocational training programme.

She then expressed delight at the seriousness and zeal with which the participants of the programme approached the training and hoped that the skills acquired will enable them to kick-start their dreams of becoming vibrant entrepreneurs.

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The National President applauded the CAS for his continued support and encouragement to NAFOWA, stressing that the Association would continue to keep the spirit of ‘Service to Humanity’ alive by embarking on similar projects that touch lives positively and make a difference in daily existence.

The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of starter kits to the graduands by the Guest of Honour, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, and a tour of exhibition stands by dignitaries to inspect and patronise products made by the graduands.

“Some of the starter packs handed over to the graduands included flour mixers, soap-making tools, wig-making tools, and industrial sewing machines, among other accessories to the graduating students.
“This edition of the NAFOWA Vocational Training is the second under the leadership of Mrs Elizabeth Amao with 60 participants undergoing 12 weeks of intensive training in various vocational trades.
“The participants were drawn mainly from widows of deceased personnel, dependents of serving personnel, orphans, youths, and women from host communities who are largely unemployed or underemployed,” Air Commodore Gabkwet concluded.