MY OWN POVERTY DEFINITION

My Dad was a lower class civil servant when I was born, my Mum, a loyal housewife who serve the purpose of making us her children comfortable with a little available resources she can afford.
I help in feeding the family when I was small, and I remember me hawking with a tray of cola nuts alone the streets of my town trying to make a living.
Many family like mine live under the poverty line, but we were lucky in the 1970s schools were free, and affordable with quality, that is how we get good and sound education. That was the difference between us the children of less privilege of yesterday, and those of today.
Poverty to me is one thing that will never be separated with humanity but, I believe humanity can strive to reduce its scourged and by making a proper economic policy in the country. My high school days was marked by many adventures and I reserve them for my memoir if I will became an important personality in my country.
The liquidation of Nigeria Railway corporation in 1987/88, added bitterness to my already fragile life, and though I appreciated my life, because I was among those who survived everyday by being someone's labourer. I followed some colleaques every weekend to tilted somebody's farm for money, i wasn't very strong then but as it is always be, a beger has no choice.
Many people in the third world countries, follow the same rout to survives the corrupt government of our various countries, and believe me, we spends many years in such conditions, even before many of us were born.  My story is no exception to hundreds of such which many poverty stricken family passed through in the lives. Many people like me cannot afford 3 square meal, talk less of having an opportunity to get education, in this regard, I am very lucky.
Most of my studies I did it from scraps, but I am lucky to get myself in to university, not because I get scholarship for that, no, I was lucky incan endeavour to subject myself to a trade which I used the monies to get myself educated, since Education is a key to every success of life.
Looking at the situation today, when a country with full of bountiful bliss, cannot take the primary responsibility of providing basics to citizens and make them proud of there country, then I see no future in this country. Our founding fathers make it heard to make us self reliance but, today's atmosphere is hazzey, and the sky has no time to get cleared.
My studies of life have taken me to so many ends, and I thank God for making me strong at every obstacle and pikes and I believe many like me are out there with the same adventure. We hardly eat, we are in abject poverty, in a country where we sleep on volumes of million of metric tons under the soil. While hundreds of us the citizens became the slaves of necessity and we are almost happy for that, because whenever there is political rallying, the lower class people give mandate to the enemies of state.
We are always being deceives with an election and empty promises, they never even allow us to vote for any candidate of our choice, they always rigged us on and on, and we salute them when they loot the treasury and make the fools out of us.

Poverty is a disease.
Ahmad M. Salihu
Nigeria