POVERTY - A CHOICE OR A CHANCE?

To say that I am happy to be here today to share with you on the thorny issues of poverty is to say the least: I am greatly honoured. God’s Word in II Peter 1:3 states that we are empowered with knowledge of things that pertain to this life and also things that pertain to godliness. In other words, so long as we exist in this existence, the knowledge of God’s Word helps us to consider issues that bother around our earthly existence, aware that the well-being of our societies equally translates to our well-being on planet earth. Therefore, to refuse to be bothered with affairs of this life is a lame attempt at living in fantasy as an escape from reality.
We must remain earthly useful as well as Heavenly useful. The function of our material well-being is a factor our spiritualities (III John v. 2). To be earthly useful and Heavenly useless is not good and to be Heavenly useful and earthly useless is equally not proper.
Consequently, issues of poverty should concern us because not only is ignorance deadly (Proverbs 29:18), feeling unconcerned over the well-being of others is characteristically unchristian, ungodly and inhuman. This explains why I am happy that youths of this Congregation have deemed it most appropriate to raise the bar as you have decided to confront the issues of your present as well as your future by deciding to invite us to share on the subject matter of POVERTY: A CHOICE OR A CHANCE? It is said that those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat them.
Thank you again for the topic assigned to me!
Poverty: A Choice or a Chance? What a question! A voice-over, advertising the release of a Nigerian Box-Office home movie, Tea and Coffee while describing the pains, embarrassments, deprivations and humiliations associated with a life of indigence tearfully remarked, “God punish poverty.”
Honestly, if poverty is a spirit, it is a cursed one. No one in his/her right frame of mind would desire to be poor because poverty is not good as far as earthly existence is concerned. Poverty is a pain in the neck of those who were either born into it, are living in it or have experienced it at one time or the other in their lives. Poverty is not something you would wish your enemy, except for the fact that if he is economically empowered, could use same to foment trouble for you.
The sight of a poor person is usually not a pleasing thing. A materially poor person goes through a lot of deprivations. He does not eat well and often goes to sleep many an uncountable days, not knowing the pleasure of a good night’s sleep because he wakes up intermittently at night by the gnawing pains of an empty stomach. He wakes up many mornings not knowing exactly where his/her next meal could come from and when. Poverty is better imagined than experienced.
Rather than live in a well furnished apartment, a poor person makes do with a ramshackled accommodation. He lacks access to quality healthcare and a good education. What some take for granted are luxuries a poor person cannot afford.
Poor people are always relegated to the background and are denied say, even in matters which principally concerns them. They are always at the receiving end of others. Poverty is wicked because it dehumanizes those in its grip. Most poor people die earlier than they should have died.
CONCEPTUALIZING POVERTY
Succinctly stated, poverty is the state of being poor. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines poverty as a “State of being poor; conditions of abject or extreme poverty. Lack of something or of poor quality.”
Poverty refers to lack of physical necessities, assets and income (Chambers, 1998:28). It is a subset of the general conditions of deprivation whose dimensions include poverty, social inferiority, isolation, physical weakness and vulnerability; seasonality, humiliation and powerlessness.
Among Economists, poverty has often been defined as a situation of low income or low consumption. This implies that the poor are almost living in a squatter and do not have access to basic needs of life such as food, clothing and decent shelter. Thus, those who are poor are often hungry: having not much to eat. They dress shabbily and live in poorly constructed, poorly furnished and unfinished buildings.
Poverty also means lacking the minimum income necessary for survival and physical efficiency. People are regarded as poor when their measured standards of living in terms of caloric intake, square meters of shelter per person, so much clothing per person and so on are low.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF POVERTY
Poverty is classified into three major categories, namely, Abject, Relative and Material Poverty (Ihenetu, 1998:66). Under Abject Poverty are those who are unable to provide for physical subsistence, especially basic things like food, clothing and shelter. According to Ihenetu the lives of those in Abject Poverty are characterized by real and inadequate care for children; illiteracy, poor sanitation, disease and a zero propensity to save money. The number of people in this category of poverty constitutes the highest amongst other poverty-stricken people in societies across the globe today.
The second category of poverty is Relative Poverty. Those in this category are people who can afford three square meals a day but are unable to fully satisfy their needs as others in their social statuses. In his own view, Killick (1981) asserts that Relative Poverty is about people’s inabilities to furnish themselves with a seriously acceptable minimum standard of living. However, he sees some problems in poverty as relative deprivation. In his view, poverty will always be with us, because there will always be some who are relatively deprived no matter how affluent they seem by absolute standard. It also implies that poverty will be found in practically all countries no matter how rich.
The third category of poverty is Material Poverty. Those under this category are people who are able to feed well but would not acquire properties as their peers (Ihenetu, 1998:67). He concluded that among all groups, Abject Poverty is more critical to find immediate solutions to.
It should be stated that poverty can be alleviated but not eradicated.
Poverty can also be categorized into “abstract” and “concrete.’ There is poverty of the mind (lack of ideas and solutions to given problems and situations); poverty of attitude (one who is devoid of virtues of life and imbued with vices); spiritual poverty (Lacking in strong spiritual relationship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ).
One could be rich materially but poor towards God (Luke 12:20).
Poverty could be a state of the mind. Examples abound of materially wealthy people who think that they are poor. On the other hand, someone might be materially poor but feel wealthy inside of him/her.
It is equally important to state that poverty and wealth are multifaceted, meaning, that one could be poor in the area of possessing money but rich in having children, land, and et cetera. Some people might have money but are poor when it comes to having children of their own.
ORIGIN OF POVERTY
Originally, there were no poor or rich people. Everyone had what they needed. They did not know what poverty was until mankind sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Poverty came as a result of sin. God had placed a curse on man to the point that his food would be guaranteed by his physical efforts coupled with the fact that he was also driven away from the Garden God had ordained for him and for his family (Genesis 3). Interestingly, however, poverty as a curse can be broken by reason of hard work and Divine mercy (Genesis 27:38-40).
POVERTY: A GLOBAL PROBLEM
Poverty remains the rallying force of popular consensus. It was confirmed by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a UN agency on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 that nine hundred and twenty million people in the world were at the risk of dying of hunger and that every six seconds a child dies of hunger. This was cheering news considering that by 2009 over one billion two hundred million people were living in the same condition of poverty.
Poverty as a social problem is a deeply embedded wound that permeates every dimension of culture and society. It includes sustained low levels of income for members of a community. It also includes a lack of accesses to services like education, markets, healthcare and lack of decision-making abilities.
World Bank (1995:15) reports that it is often not difficult to recognize the poor in any given society. They have meager income. They are often illiterates and in a poor health; they have a short life span, and have no potentials for affluence, although this can be achieved through providence This implies that those who are poor are merely living on subsistence as they do not earn much with which to improve their living standards and that they have little or no opportunities of being adequately educated. Furthermore, because they are not socially disposed to health facilities they often die at relative young age.
Poverty is highly visible in various local communities across the world. The abject poor cannot afford to live in the reserved areas of our cities because of their financial deprivations and so find abode in shrines and ghettos where living conditions are terrible.
Perhaps the most valid generalization about the poor is that they are proportionately located in the rural areas and that they are primarily engaged in agriculture and associated activities. About two-third of the very poor in our communities scratch out their livelihood through subsistence agriculture, either as small farmers or as paid farm workers. The remaining of one third are located in rural villages (engaged in petty services) and on the flings and marginal areas of urban cities where they engage in various forms of self-employment such as street hawkers, trading, petty services and small scale commerce, sometimes prostitution. It has been estimated that an average of about 15 to 80 per cent of all target poverty have low level of living, low level of productivity, large family size and high rate of dependency; low skills and employment; dependence on agriculture for a living and vulnerability (Koji, 1993: 30).
In spite of Nigeria’s enormous resources: land, oil and gas; forestry, et cetera, the incidence of poverty is high (Obadan, 1996:19). Poverty is serious and extension to differing degrees in all parts of the country and within all the states. At present, only very few people are living in affluence. This group constitutes about 20% of the population. This means that about 80% are unable to satisfy their basic needs.
The income gap between the very rich and the poor widen daily. The dilemmas confronting the poorest people become difficult to achieve between the struggle for existence today and privation tomorrow. Such a choice adversely affects their quality of life, health, sense of worth and productivity. Simply stated, poverty is a cankerworm.
Today, millions of Nigerians live in absolute poverty. This is the number of people who are struggling to survive on meager incomes. The incidence of poverty is very high and is highly visible in the country. Essentially, the poor have meager income; they are often illiterate and in poor health, they have a short life span. They are unable to have access to basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing and decent shelter; they are unable to meet social and economic obligations. They lack skills for gainful employment and sometimes lack self-esteem.
The general conditions of deprivations for most Nigerians are due to meager incomes and inadequate access to basic necessities. The persistence of poverty is due to low income level and low marginal propensity to save.
EFFECTS OF POVERTY
Poverty is a blatant attack on human dignity which many face in daily life. Each of these aspects of poverty overlaps: unemployment and poor income; illiteracy, hunger, ill-health, inadequate shelter and social services do not strike randomly; they usually visit the same persons, the same families, the same shanty towns and slums; the same marginal and rural areas.
Illiteracy is bred by lack of schooling leading to difficulty in having decent income, finding jobs and poor diet. All of these mean fragile health.
IS POVERTY A CHOICE OR A CHANCE?
This is a hard question and a difficult nut to crack. Succinctly stated, poverty is both a chance and a choice.
For some people, poverty is a choice but for others, it is a chance. Anyone born into squalor has no choice. He is only a victim of circumstance of his/her birth. However, he/she has the choice of remaining poor or working hard to break free from the shackles of poverty. He could do this by developing a vision for himself/herself through hard work, prayers and Divine intervention.
Poverty can be a choice when one through neglect (Do not neglect the day of small things, Zechariah 4:10; cf. Job 8:7), laziness (Proverbs 24:30-34), prodigality (Luke 15:13), rascality and squandermania plunges himself/herself into poverty.
We have seen people rise from pit of poverty to the pinnacle of wealth. On the other hand, we have seen people descend from the pinnacle of wealth to the pit of poverty. These, sometimes happen either by choice or by chance. We must understand that in the vicissitudes (ups and downs) of life the only thing that is permanent is change (Ecclesiastes 9:11). A wealthy man today could become a poor man tomorrow and vice-versa.
Therefore, the question of poverty being a chance or a choice is dependent on a number of factors. The answer could be either a resounding ”Yes” or a Compound “No” depending on the angle one approaches the subject matter.
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Causes of poverty are traced to history, colonialism, war and conquest and above all bad governance and corruption. Prolonged natural and man-made disasters such as drought, floods, wars, environmental degradation, et cetera are also causes of poverty. These are also factors that maintain this poverty as a social problem. Other factors are ignorance, disease, apathy, dishonesty and dependency. Poverty exists and is caused. Some other factors are indicated as causes of poverty. These include:
1. Inheritance.
Many are born into poverty. In other words, they inherited poverty. They have no choice and could do nothing about it. However, they have a choice to remain poor or to break free from it. Those who have a protest mentality would likely change their situations but those who said, “Well, this is where I was born and this is where I will live and die” leaves themselves no other choice.
2. Inability to take advantage of opportunities.
GNLD describes the Word, POOR as “Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly.” It is said that “opportunity only knocks twice.” In his classic, The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Classon (1998:18) observes that, “Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.” In world of business, however, opportunities do not get the chance to knock before they are allowed in. People should take opportunities seriously. Those who want to succeed in life do not wait for opportunities to come to them. They study their environment and locate opportunities. Opportunity counts for so much in life. Whenever you encounter an opportunity, you need to grasp it with both hands and submit it to your will.
3. Spiritual manipulations.
There are forces in operation in the spiritual realm. We have heard of witches and wizards. Often, people’s destinies are tied in by others, vowing that those so tied would never see the light of good life. In some people’s lives are placed “Scepters of wickedness” (Psalms 125:3). A scepter is a symbol of authority; it is like coming to a portion of land and hoisting a notice that says, “This land belongs to so, so and so person; do not trespass.” People out of spiritual wickedness can set out to manipulate others.
4. Laziness.
Laziness is a major cause of poverty. Show me a lazy person and I will show you a poverty-stricken individual. God’s Word says a lot about laziness and lazy people that if we focus on it time and space would fail us (Proverbs 26:13 -16; Proverbs 6:6-11).
5. Enjoyment without restraint.
Any one who cannot learn to delay gratifications is a perfect study in poverty. Do not eat everything you see and buy everything you desire. Learn to say, “No’ to certain things. Delay your gratifications.
6. Lack of savings culture.
Lack of savings culture coupled with excessive borrowing (indebtedness) compound the problems of poverty amongst the poor.
7. Human influences and factors.
Human influences such as wars, bad governance, conquest and above all corruption. Lots of human influences and factors are indicated as causes of poverty.

WAYS OUT OF POVERTY
1. Realize that material poverty is not good.
The first step out of poverty is the appreciation of the fact that it is not good. This is akin to what the Prodigal son did (Luke 15:17). When you realize that something is not good for you, then the desire to get out of it would arise to make you get out of it. There were a number of things God said was not good. Bachelorhood and spinsterhood are some of them (Genesis 2:18). I am sure that God has said the same of poverty, which explains why He had said what He said in III John verse 2.
2. Have a protest mentality.
Protest Mentality is a mindset that says, “I do not like where I am; I want change.” Jabez was one man who disliked who he was and where he was. Therefore, he protested to God. He told God that he did not like his situation and that he wanted change. God answered him (I Chronicles 4:9-10). Poverty can make you not to serve God the way you want to serve Him because of the limitations it places on you. Say “No” to poverty as we should “Say No” to worldliness (Titus 2:11-12).
3. Prayerfulness
Protest mentality cannot have much effect without going to God in
Prayer. Prayer moves the hand of Him who moves the world. The
foundations of the world are in God’s hands and all He needed to do
to change one’s situation is to move slabs up or down. He makes people
rich and He can make you one (I Samuel 2:7-8).
When President Barrack Obama wanted to become a Senator of the
United States of America he went to a man in Chicago whom he
believed could help him and said, “Make me a Senator because I
know you can.” He was made one! God can do far exceedingly much
more than we can ever think or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
If God could make a Prime Minister out of a prisoner in Joseph, then
we can be sure that he can make “Somebody” out of a “Nobody.” When
you go to God in prayer He can literally “Awaken Himself for you and
enlarge your dwelling place” (Job 8:5-7, 21).
4. Work hard to break the burden and bondage of poverty
Poverty is actually a burden which workaholism can break (Genesis 27:40). Someone had remarked: “Pray as if everything depends on
God and work as if everything depends on yourself.” Nothing replaces hard work. When you work hard, you will go places (Proverbs 22:29; Proverbs 13:11b).
5. Get education (Just learn how to read and write).
All you need to succeed in the world of work is your ability to read and write. Higher education certainly has its own advantage. Ability to read and write combined with common sense (“Common sense is not common”). In entrepreneurship we say that we must constantly train our minds to “Learn, unlearn and relearn”). Open your mind to new ideas and seek for ways to translate your ideas into services or products.
Part of your education would be to learn wealth creative principles:
learning how to build a Kobo and grow it to Naira, et cetera.
6. Learn a trade and be good at it.
One of the problems of the poor is their inabilities to find employment. This problem would not arise if one learns a trade and is good at it. Someone had said, “Build a better mouse trap and the world would beat a path to your door!” Someone had also remarked, “If you are a sweeper, sweep as if no one else can; sweep in the same way as Michelangelo painted pictures.”
7. Acquire a skill that others need.
Closely related to “Learning a trade and being good at it” is acquisition of skills. Acquire a skill that others need. In other words, seek to be a solutions’ provider. Every one of us born into this world was born to provide solution to people’s variegated needs. God does not make nobodies, every person that God created is created to be somebody. Look around you to see what people need; become a bridge to that need and you would build an empire there from!
SUMMATION
Talking about Poverty: A Choice or A Chance? is a pretty hard thing to do. It is my earnest hope that today’s presentation has at least tried to answer the question and also provided insight into how to come out of poverty so that we can really live meaningful lives. It is important to appreciate the fact that Jesus, our Lord had done something in this regard (John 10:10; II Corinthians 8:9).
As a global problem, poverty is fought at all levels. It would be appropriate to start fighting it where we are.
Solomon’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 is most appropriate here:

Two things I request of you (Deprive me not before I die): remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither POVERTY nor RICHES – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.
In all seriousness, God’s Word declares that “It is better to be a poor man than to be a liar.” (Proverbs 19:22b).
May God richly bless us as we seek to do His Will in Jesus’ most precious name! AMEN!!