People in poverty seek government assistance
Oct. 17, 2016
By Ijendu Iheaka
People in poverty in Aba on Monday described poverty as a big social problem which denies people of opportunities and better livelihood and called for government’s assistance to them.
Some of the people in poverty spoke to our reporter in separate interviews from the slums of Ngwa road in Aba, Abia state on the International Day for Poverty Eradication.
This year’s theme is “Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms”.
They said that the life of people in poverty was painful and has so much challenges needing assistance adding that they would “not pray for such” for their worst enemies.
Ozoemenam Uche, 39, a wheelbarrow pusher whose daily income is between N750-N1000 said that his income was not enough to cater for his family with wife and one child in school.
“With my income, I can only manage to pay N5000 for my child’s school fees. If things continue this way, I do not think I will be able to send him to the university.
“Some days, I starve to see that I provide for my child’s needs yet it is not enough. If they are sick, I cannot take them to the hospital because I cannot afford it.
“When they are sick, I give them N100 to N200 to go to the nearest chemist shop to get some drugs mixed for them. People in poverty in most times are forced to seek help against their wish”, he said.
Chinedu Odo, 37, said he has wife with two children in school stressing that while one is in the private school, the other is in public school because he cannot afford to keep both in private schools.
He said that the money he gets from his menial jobs was not enough to take care of his family.
“I am not settled in my mind because if things continue this way, they may even come out of school and find what to do. That is not my wish but it is what poverty can lead to”, he said.
Okechukwu Kalu, 36 another wheelbarrow pusher said that to get N500 daily in the present economic situation is very hard for him adding that it has increased his family’s sufferings.
Kalu said that when his four children and wife are sick, he directs them to a chemist around their house because he cannot afford to pay hospital bills.
“I will not lie to you, my children were in school until some months ago when I could not pay their fees so they are no longer going to school now. It pains me that this situation may mar their future and make them suffer like myself but I do not want it so.
I am begging that whatever government can do to ensure that people like us can find food and live a decent life, they should do so for us. It will be worse if after we may have died suffering; our children would also go on suffering”, he said.
These three persons said they live in one room with their families because they cannot afford better and larger accommodation.
They urged government to help them with better jobs to enable them feed and take care of their families.
Ekene Nkwoego, 18, Chimaobi Nwangene, 19, and Uche Nwaji, 18, said that their parents’ poverty led them to pushing wheelbarrow instead of being in school like their mates.
They said that they were doing the job to raise West African Examination Council fees to enable them sit for the examinations next year.
They asked government to help them by either provinding work for their parents or to give them full scholarship from secondary to university levels to be able to live their dreams of becoming better human beings in future.
Oct. 17, 2016
By Ijendu Iheaka
People in poverty in Aba on Monday described poverty as a big social problem which denies people of opportunities and better livelihood and called for government’s assistance to them.
Some of the people in poverty spoke to our reporter in separate interviews from the slums of Ngwa road in Aba, Abia state on the International Day for Poverty Eradication.
This year’s theme is “Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms”.
They said that the life of people in poverty was painful and has so much challenges needing assistance adding that they would “not pray for such” for their worst enemies.
Ozoemenam Uche, 39, a wheelbarrow pusher whose daily income is between N750-N1000 said that his income was not enough to cater for his family with wife and one child in school.
“With my income, I can only manage to pay N5000 for my child’s school fees. If things continue this way, I do not think I will be able to send him to the university.
“Some days, I starve to see that I provide for my child’s needs yet it is not enough. If they are sick, I cannot take them to the hospital because I cannot afford it.
“When they are sick, I give them N100 to N200 to go to the nearest chemist shop to get some drugs mixed for them. People in poverty in most times are forced to seek help against their wish”, he said.
Chinedu Odo, 37, said he has wife with two children in school stressing that while one is in the private school, the other is in public school because he cannot afford to keep both in private schools.
He said that the money he gets from his menial jobs was not enough to take care of his family.
“I am not settled in my mind because if things continue this way, they may even come out of school and find what to do. That is not my wish but it is what poverty can lead to”, he said.
Okechukwu Kalu, 36 another wheelbarrow pusher said that to get N500 daily in the present economic situation is very hard for him adding that it has increased his family’s sufferings.
Kalu said that when his four children and wife are sick, he directs them to a chemist around their house because he cannot afford to pay hospital bills.
“I will not lie to you, my children were in school until some months ago when I could not pay their fees so they are no longer going to school now. It pains me that this situation may mar their future and make them suffer like myself but I do not want it so.
I am begging that whatever government can do to ensure that people like us can find food and live a decent life, they should do so for us. It will be worse if after we may have died suffering; our children would also go on suffering”, he said.
These three persons said they live in one room with their families because they cannot afford better and larger accommodation.
They urged government to help them with better jobs to enable them feed and take care of their families.
Ekene Nkwoego, 18, Chimaobi Nwangene, 19, and Uche Nwaji, 18, said that their parents’ poverty led them to pushing wheelbarrow instead of being in school like their mates.
They said that they were doing the job to raise West African Examination Council fees to enable them sit for the examinations next year.
They asked government to help them by either provinding work for their parents or to give them full scholarship from secondary to university levels to be able to live their dreams of becoming better human beings in future.
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