Poverty which has become man’s longest problem since ages had dealt with the human race so badly that it is consider as the number one menace affecting the whole world today: as there is no part of the world where poverty is not felt or experienced. It has become world Ultimate problem which had deprived majority of humans on Earth their livelihoods and make them become the second version of who they supposed to be. And this deprivation of life can be seen in our society as people are suffering from all kind of trauma be it psychological, medical, emotional, physical trauma which is affecting their productivity and relevance in the society. Poverty is said to be the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions; that is it is the state in which a person lack financial resources to satisfy his/her everyday needs, enjoying the minimum standards of living that is acceptable in a society. Its effects on our social life can not be quantify, as it has affected people’s social lives beyond remedy as it had become a yardstick in identifying one’s social status.
The effects of poverty on education is so pathetic that it has been an antagonist to many children educational careers, it has caused many brilliant and aspiring students to drop out of school, it has been the number one problem that is forcing many children out of schools yearly since they cannot cope with study due to their malnourishment, lack of good clothes, inability to pay school fees, lack of writing and studying materials and most don’t even have the opportunity to glance the four walls of a school. A child whose parents can’t afford a balanced diet meal will find it difficult to perform excellently unlike his counterparts from rich homes. There are schools in the poverty-stricken area most especially the rural areas that their environments aren’t suitable for learning, some had become dilapidated, some lack standard teaching’s materials and qualified educators who will help in grooming the children to become successful in their study. Poverty has also denied many students of useful and wonderful opportunities like grants, scholarships and standard competitions as majority of these opportunities do not reach the poor students who attend such schools. Another major problem poverty had cause to students is the attack on their self esteem as most poor students see themselves as inferior to the rich students especially those who attends schools in the urban areas, they feel ashamed when they saw the parents of the rich students dropping them with cars, wearing good uniform, well fed and having extra money with them and this has led many young children to be begging their counterparts for money and food in schools.
The effects of poverty can be seen in our social segregation, it has become a normal occurrence to find some group of people forming groups and union separating themselves from others due to their social status. As the saying goes “birds of same feathers flocks together” that is to say the “rich befriend the rich and the poor befriend the poor”, there is no status equality in our social stratosphere anymore as the rich had decided to ostracized the poor as nonentities in the society and the worst part of it is that the society has accepted it as norms. Poverty has returned our society back to the days of colonialism when the colonial Masters segregated themselves from the masses and also incurred restrictions on them on places they are allowed to visit, same scenario is happening today among the rich and the poor in the society, we have reserved the best places and locations for the rich and ostracized the poor to the worst and inhumane areas. The restaurants/eateries are for the rich while the poor are for Mama puts or bukas, the Government schools are for the poor while the best private schools are for the rich, GRAs and developed Estates are for the rich while the slums and ghettos are for the poor even the religious centres of the poor are no way in comparison to those of the rich. Supermarkets and Malls are for the Rich while the local markets are for the poor, the best public transport are reserved for the rich, and it is not that all these things are not entitlements of the poor man but the question is can he afford them?, which is no and the worst part of it is that the government policies are favouring the rich than the poor e.g removal of fuel subsidy, increase in electricity tarrifs and so on, which should not be so.
Another effects of poverty on our social lives is that it kills dreams, hopes and aspirations of people. Gone are those days when you asked a child what do you want to become in the future and he/she will tell you I want to become a doctor, nurse, pilot and so on but nowadays with increase in poverty-stricken individuals and their exposure to the pathetic situations of people around them their thoughts and hopes of the future has been dashed as the only answer they will give in response to that question is that “I WANT TO BE RICH or I WANT TO MAKE MONEY”, so it is not a gainsaying that Poverty kills dreams and It murders hope. It squashes every last kobo of ambitions in a child, Poverty impacts the old, but targets the young. It steals more than full bellies and healthy bodies; it suffocates the future and squanders potential. As for children who are able to go to school, many fail to see how hard work can improve their lives as they see their parents struggle at every day tasks. Many brilliant minds of the society are not given chances to express their talents, ideas and individual abilities which are bedrocks in restructuring their society, many intelligent students and individuals end up with jobs that pays miserable salaries which are poverty trap in disguise and worst of it all majority don’t get their dream job which makes them to be frustrated in their jobs and personal lives. Those that desire to be an entrepreneur or business owners lacks funds for start ups and because they couldn’t achieve their dreams and sail out of poverty majority later get married and give birth to offsprings in their poverty state and the cycle continues which is one of the major reasons it is difficult to eradicate poverty from our society today. But the tragedy of poverty re-creates itself because the need for food, clothing and shelter supercede education, career and future. The death of the dream is the hardest death to overcome for the child and those who want to help.
Lastly, Poverty fuels terrorism, insecurities and other social vices by creating a state of misery and frustration that pushes people to join terrorist organizations, criminals and become nuisances to the society. It has deprived so many people of their integrity and dignity as many venture into crimes and illegal occupations to make an ends meet ignoring the consequences thereof. The ladies including older women venture into prostitution either voluntarily or involuntarily, some females sells dry gins and herbal concoctions as side hustle with prostitution. The males venture into kidnapping, raping, money rituals, hired assassins, cyber criminals, gambling and political thuggery in order to earn money to feed themselves and their families. Those who joined terrorist groups do so because they are lure in with big amount of money. This doesn’t mean that all poor people are criminals and that all criminals are only poor people but the truth is that majority of the criminals we know today are people who had poor background and are influenced by the corruptness in the slums and ghettos they grew up from.Many youths venture into drug trafficking and cyber fraud because they want to become rich quickly and avoid the stigma of being called a poor man.All these social vices has contributed majorly to the insecurities of our society, loss of lives of young people, social unrest and explosion of all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases;research has shown that one of the worst place to live on earth are ghettos and slum areas as they are filled with hoodlums,criminals and illegal activities.
In conclusion, all this negative effects and many more are the negative impacts of poverty on our social Life and every countries in the world including The United Nations and other philanthropical organizations are working tirelessly to deliver people from poverty. The question is can poverty be totally eradicated from our society?.
Michael Omirin is an undergraduate of University of Ibadan wrote in via michealomis99@gmail.com, he is a content writer and essayist. He has written a great number of blog publications majorly on youths’ lifestyles. His dream is to restore sanity among the youths and make the society a better place to live in through the power of his pen.
