The urban poor in Nigeria.
…as population increase continued and a significant youth bulge developed in the population profile, the poor youths in the rural areas also moved to urban centres. In this context, these cities have become the new focal point for the aggregation and aggravation of poverty, amidst massive accumulation of wealth by a tiny elite. The most profound poverty has therefore been moving from the rural to the urban centres. The era of post cosmopolitanism has arrived.
In August 2017, I addressed today’s theme in one of my columns. Since then, the situation has worsened considerably. We do not spend sufficient time reflecting on the rapid deterioration of our culture and we bask in the ignorance that our culture and tradition reflects long held values inherited from our forebears. Meanwhile, Nigerian culture has transformed considerably and become extremely troubling and indeed frightening.
Over the past three decades, millions of private citizens have acquired arms, top-level combat arms, and are using them to kill other private citizens to steal their possessions or to avenge their god from whatever harm they believe had been done to him. They kill without thinking or consideration because they actually have little or no understanding of the faith they espouse. Cults have continued to grow and strengthen, and people kill others to remove their body parts for sale or the performance of rituals. Jihadi groups have been able to sustain and indeed expand their actions for decades.
