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When it comes to the terms of poverty it can be asked if it is actually a lack, a mismanagement or deprivation of resources or assets. Personally, I will exclude ‘a lack’ because I feel there is no country that has not been blessed by one natural resource or the other. It could be skills, techniques, manner of approaching situations; put them ALL together and you can grow an economy beyond. I happen to hear Egypt has fruit all round season, how do they manage to be that good in the field of fruit agriculture; you see why I say knowledge itself is a resource.
Every place has its opportunities, even the desert heat is NOW becoming a sought after to create new energies. The demand for it is getting higher as the world continues to evolve tech wise. artificial intelligence, automobiles and several industries are dependent on computes derived from steady energy to run and maintain them. A big opportunity indeed, maybe an article for another day.
It has been one of those stories for those staying at the relegated zone of the wealth list. I was covering an article yesterday which drew me to the TOP poorest countries currently. The African planes keep topping this below chart despite the many natural resources and fertile lands within it. So this draws back to the two; mismanagement and deprivation. At least I can speak of both from where I am from. Our crude oil has indeed been mismanaged. It is a question of why should a country like Nigeria be in huge debts?
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Of course it is not in the poorest list but those who understand the strategic economy should be ticking Nigeria as a top economic competing nation globally. The reverse has been the case, this has led to Naira devaluation; something we don't know when we will be getting out of it. The pressure is getting higher and higher, it has been an overdependence on crude oil. Over importation has been one of those norms. Let me stop there and get back to the current page.
So I had to look at the updated list for 2025 and found South Sudan topping followed by Burundi, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo respectively. Adding the fifth I saw Mozambique. The story behind South Sudan's poor economic performance has been poor management and conflict. Just as I earlier said, it is never a lack. The nation is blessed with oil yet the how to properly transact it to the nation's benefit has been that limitations. I am not too surprised, when a nation is overdependent on a single commodity, such poor long term results are very likely.
Adding to that, the conflicts within its walls haven't allowed citizens to be steady and grow the economy. Maybe a fight for independence gained in 2011 is still keeping them unstable or perhaps those who fought for it were after individual gains. We are talking of a GDP per Capita within $450 to $460 dollars. Wow! A very discouraging one, I am just assuming how much we as individuals in Nigeria spend monthly not even comparing this to top economies.
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How do you talk about a country with 15 years of civil war experience? This has been the case of Burundi, it always bounces back to my suspicions. Of course war leads to resource deprivations and mismanagement. Another to add is its current population overgrown its production. Another case of mismanagement, this is where the government should step in to support sensitization on human population management and also sponsor commercial farming in the process. The case of political instability is just another case; a few are always in the Rush to inconvenience others.
There is much to talk about the situation of Burundi, yes it has faced natural disasters and it is a land locked country with no resources as assumed. But we know humans as a team can tackle anything. As I earlier said, knowledge is one resource that can change an economy. A disorganized economy cannot achieve much, we should understand this. A GDP per Capita within $920 dollars is not still encouraging, I feel under literacy is a trap this country has to break out from.
To conclude, let me add, the story has been similar with both the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. There has been a high presence of weak governance and overdependence on subsistence agriculture. DR Congo is one to consider very amusing when considering the vast wealth and resources surrounding it. It has been exploited over and over again traced down to its colonial history. I will always say, poverty is not a lack; consider mismanagement or resource deprivations.