THE INFLUENCE OF POVERTY ON CRIME
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1The effects of poverty on society and individuals
According to the past and present research poverty impacts a lot on the economic development of a people and the nation as a whole. There are high risks of educational underachievement of children who from low income households. The problem begins at primary level to other levels of education. Children from poor families drop-out of school and practice juvenile delinquencies in the community. Teenage pregnancy is experienced on girls from the low income family. This is true in Owerri region because the majority of children dropout of school and those who complete primary education (Nigeria Certificate of Primary Education - KCPE) hardly pursue High school and even few who attend high school do not perform poorly due to poor family background. The 2009 NCPE results for Owerri 11 students attained 400 marks and above, similarly the 2009 Nigeria Certificate Secondary Education (NCSE) examinations performance were poorly done, only one student obtained A plain as compared to 10 students in 2008 (Owerri News magazine issue No 5 January 2010). This is an indication that poverty is a key contributor to students impoverishment, hopeless and powerless thus deterring the educational standards in the region.
Families and societies who submit low levels of investment in education and development of less fortunate children end up with less favourable results for the children. Very few of the citizens of Owerri reach University level due to poor academic backgrounds and the few who attain the university status migrate to other places for fear of being attacked by the poor, illiterate youth gangs. The transfer of the educated has led to brain drain in the region leading to a vacuum in the strategic leadership, planning and implementation of educational and socioeconomic policies to develop the area. Most of educated group are teachers of P1 certificates, few University graduates, few medical officers, few engineers and technicians, accountants, managers who make the major human resource in the study area. Poverty drastically affects the children success in school due the nature of the poor households in which they experience hunger, fatigue, irritability and diseases. Housing is an effect of poverty as most of the households in Nigeria and Owerri live in temporary houses made of mud walls, grass or iron sheets, earthen, floors, wood, prone to jiggers, fleas and poor sanitation due to lack toilets or latrines. The Nature of the housing system in this region can be compared to slum dwellers structures in towns that make up a third of the world urban population that live in poverty. (http://www.answer.com/topic/poverty).
According to the Nigerian constitution (2010) every person has a right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation. This hasn’t been achieved in Nigeria especially Owerri where nearly 90% of the population live in semi permanent mud and temporary houses vulnerable to the storm and heavy rains. The inhabitants are frequently infested by jiggers, fleas that infect them with diseases. The houses are also weak for Marauding gangsters who dig and kick through the walls taking household properties which are sold to make money for drugs and substance abuse by gangsters. In Owerri the effects of poverty on the poor households is so devastating and degrading especially for the youths, the old, aged, women, children and the disabled who rely on the working Male household heads to provide the basic Needs for the family. The sub-optional development of the production potential of the poor women and other vulnerable groups is a loss of their full contribution to economic growth and social development. The poor impose negative externalities such as drug trafficking, illicit liquor selling and brewing, crime bagging, prostitution, spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections. Urban blight, social unrest and political instability all pre-dispose the effects of poverty of the Eziobodo of Owerri of Eastern Nigeria.
Street children is another effect of poverty in Owerri as the abandoned children move round funeral places, markets, celebrities looking for food. Some of the children have parents of economically poor; some are orphans, illegitimate and mentally impaired. The Danish government NGO-DANIDA based in Nigeria has tried to rehabilitate them, plus initiating Micro and small scale enterprises programmes and development of youth polytechnics for technical training skills to enable the youth attain self-reliant jobs. The area MP, Hon Dr Wilbur Otichilo works round the clock to reduce the poverty trap through donations, 19th August 2009 he donated 28 seats to Okigwe Markets shoe-shiners, in November 2009 donations of maize to over 4500 orphans and widows in 30 registered women groups, the MP build houses for the less fortunate members of the community giving them food supplies and household items. (Owerri News issue No. 5 January - March 2010).
On gender and poverty we see the status of a woman abused. They work longer hours than men in every society to provide for the entire family household. The same woman’s subjected to human rights violations through violence such as wife battery, rape, sexual slavery, gender based violence, emotional psychological traumas. This Nature of women disparity is experienced among the Eziobodo in Owerri.
2.2 Crime defined and it's effects on individuals and the society.
Eshleman (2003) defines crimes as an act of violation of the criminal statutory law and a specific punishment applied by some governmental authority generally accompanies the violation. Criminal activities vary and even crime rates take different jurisdictions, with accompanying differences in the rates of enforcement in every state, and societies in the world.
According to Thompson and Hickey (2002) crime is defined as an act that violates a criminal law and is divided into violent acts against persons and non violent actions against property. Thompson & Hickey (2002:165) express that violent crimes are considered the most threatening because they involve offences against persons. They include homicide (unwilling taking of a persons life) aggravated assault (an attack with intention to inflict severe bodily harm) forcible rape (sexual intercourse against the victims will) and robbery (stealing from a person by the use or threat of force). This reflects on the atrocities perpetrated among the Eziobodo people of Owerri by the marauding gangsters who rob and kill innocent people in urban centres and villages. This year 2010 Owerri residents witnessed several cases of murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse and harassment, rape, burglary, stock theft, assault, suicide, defilement, murder and many others that targeted men and women. The crimes are organized on high levels that the perpetrators are hardly arrested citing the case of Ebwali Secondary School Principal Mr Kolwa who was pulled out of his car at night and murdered next to his gate, the car hijacked and driven to the neighbouring Siaya metropolis of Nigeria. The angry inhabitants of Owerri demanded the renewal and beefing of the security, police officers to curb the insecurity in the region. Many criminal cases of murder have been reported at Owerri and many other regions of Imo state accompanied with assault, rape, murder, gender-based violence and other human right violation are witnessed.
Property offences and Non violent crimes which included burglary (unlawful entry with the intent to steal) is also common in Owerri as most of the unemployed youths break into shops, houses, stores, schools, stealing property. The main objective is to get money to purchase drugs like codeine and weed or marijuana. Larceny theft, which is theft of stealing motor vehicle purposefully to use in burglary murder or criminal activities, is also common in the urban centres mainly targeting the African and Indian Businessmen. Arson crime which means intentionally setting fire on property which as common in Nigeria during the early 2007 General Election where property and human being were set ablaze by arsonists supporting Orange Democratic Party(ODM) and Party of National Unity (PNU) led by the two Presidential Contenders Hon Raila Amollo
Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. Many lives were lost, animals killed and farms set ablaze.
White collar crimes committed by professionals include embezzlement, fraud, inside trading, copyright, patent violations and the violations of the antitrust laws. The crimes are committed by people of high social economic status in Nigeria. White collar crimes are highly organized by civil servants and the local Government Authority whereby large sums of money are siphoned from Government coffers without detection. The Goldenberg scandal is one example where millions of Nigerians money was stolen by key government leaders. Even the commissions set to investigate the case were also corrupted and to date no report has been made public. Mismanagement of investment like Nzoia Sugar Company, Webuye Pan paper Mills, Chemeli Sugar Factory, Nigeria Meat Commission, Nigeria Cooperative Creameries and other government institutions has drained the country’s economic resources. From national level the same vices also extend to the study area of Owerri where the inhabitants of the area manipulated by the leaders and the public service workers through corruption. Most of the embezzlement of funds is done in Okigwe market and other towns. According to investigations over ksh 2 million revenue collections in Okigwe is misappropriated each month yet the workers go unpaid, no projects, plans on sanitation and development in the region occurs yet money is generated. It is notably believed the money goes to the officers pockets. Most Local Authority workers are seen drank throughout the month, with high standards of living in their households despite non payment of the salary incomes from the town Councils an indication of graft.
Public order or victimless crimes are practiced through prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use. The crime does not involve clear cut criminal, the average citizens feels much less directly threatened by them (Thomson 2002) Public order crimes are rampant in Urban centres of Owerri like Okigwe, Ohii, Orlu where the Female youths seeks for a sustainability through prostitution. Women and men sell drugs like codeine, weed (local beer) and other substance to the youths and older men to earn a living. There is gambling (isimbi) among the youths who at times commit crimes like fighting leading to murder especially when one has been fleeced of the money.
Juvenile delinquency involves children between 13-17 years old taking part in criminal activities like under age drinking, inhalation of shoe gum, running away from home and joining gangsters or street children. This group is very volatile they commit crimes against persons like murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The group goes further to organized property crimes like burglary, larceny, motor vehicles theft and arson. The team of these youths includes both boys and girls (Henslin 2000:181). Such groups are common in Okigwe where the youths commit the mentioned crimes. There are organized gangs such as Okigwe Town down of 42 gangsters stationed around Okigwe Township. Most of the gangsters are aged between 13 – 17 years whose purpose is to steal and murder the civilians who have investments or some in income. In 2008 a watchman in Okigwe was attacked and killed by being nailed 6 inch nails in his head, 2010 many watchmen in Okigwe have also been murdered and the shops robbed. The same year 2010 the angry civilians from Orlu and neighbourhood of Okigwe torched a robber to death as the security (police and chiefs) watched. A motorcycle thief from Ohii around Okigwe town was frog matched from his house in the broad day light slashed with machette, beaten up transported on the same stolen motorbike and torched him to death. There are daily reports of rape cases, street children, taking gum in Okigwe and funerals and other juvenile crimes in Owerri area. Professional crimes which include highly romanticized jewel thieves, safecrackers, counterfeiters, shoplifters, pickpockets and fences those who buy stolen good for resale can also are noted in Owerri of Nigeria.
The professional criminal organize their lives around the work, plan their work, steal daily, associate with one another and avoid non criminal activities teach one another technical skills for committing crimes and avoiding detection. The incidences can easily be detected if the police depart and Provincial administration in the metropolis as a whole take credit of curbing the falling crimes. The crime rate is escalating drastically each day but the police rarely serve the public but collude with the criminals to fear and insecurity. Kin (1999) show that the acting police Boyan Lewis in USA once said “We have convinced the public to support three strikes law lengthening criminals prison sentence to make judges tough on the criminals. Indeed crimes become a campaign issue as a political fear. Some people in Owerri go beyond bribing the police, courts and prison officials to avoid the judicial processes among the perpetrators. The released criminals again swing into criminal activities terrorizing everyone in the community.
Professor Ted Chiricos of Criminology and Criminal School of Justice at Florida States University, studied crime and then concluded that television crime news on residents showed that fear levels were significant, regardless of whether the resident lived in high crime areas or rest. People living in places with low crimes rates and with high crime rates all had the same levels of fear (Kin 199:42) thus local media news in radios and televisions are reveal there is high levels of fear in the area of study. The Nigeria Television Network (NTN), Citizen, Nigeria Broadcasting Cooperation(NBC) always air news on the justice bench giving major crimes committed in Nigeria making the citizens wonder who is next to be attacked by perpetrators of crime or violence. This violence creates fear of up to 80% in the country, Nigeria National Poll Survey Results (NNPSR) (April 2009) data reveals that youths associated with looting and theft are 46.9%, violent attacks and killings 31.6%, crimes on blocking roads 29.8% general destructions of physical infrastructures 12.6% and those associated with atrocity such as gang rape (9.0%). The majority of the youth who involve in crime languish in poverty, are joblessness in life, powerless, hopeless in life; the status in which 70% of the youths are in Owerri.
The gap between the rich and poor worsen each day in Owerri as crime and poverty increase. The legal duty of the police service is to be accountable and all the civilians. The police force ratio of 1 policeman to 1000 civilians (1:1000) has to improve to the recommendations of United Nations ratio of 1 police officer for every 450 citizens. There is need for capacity building courses and improved equipment, better welfare conditions for the law enforcers and the police to enable them maintain law and order to reduce criminal offences. It has been sighted that police are not quick to rescue the victims of crime because they are few, ill equipped so the criminals take advantage to cause conflicts and violence in the region. Greater availability of guns, pangas, rungus, clubs, boulders have increased violence levels in homes ant the entire community. At times the gangsters steal these equipments from the police armoury or collude with the police officer in organized robberies. The Nigerian government has been kept on the world record for disarmament of civilians and setting rounds of ammunitions on fire in the public. In Nairobi the year 2009 and 2010 over 5000 guns and thousands of bullets have been surrendered and set ablaze. This is an indication of insecurity and a national disaster that calls for proper legal framework and law enforcement improve security.
Bohm (1999) describes crime as an international gross violation of the criminal law or penal code, committed with defence or excuse and generalized by the state. He further lists the categories and the degree of crime according to the degree of severity of the offences, according to the nature the act prohibited or statistical reporting scheme and further divides them into felonies and misdemeanours in Nigeria. Banditry survey reveals that organized armed robbery on highways were with gangsters attacking vehicles and stealing from passengers or motorists. Banditry activity by nature is loud and violent and is committed by a large group of offenders usually in rural areas and isolated family settings in the community.
Drugs abuse is rampant in Nigeria, it has been noted with great concern local beer is usually ill prepared, mixed dangerous chemicals such as Formalin, methanol spirit and jet oil has frequently caused death to the consumers. It is estimated over 200 people die of drinking weed and illicit brew. In 2007, 11 people were reportedly dead after drinking jet oil at Esibuye market, several others including Paul Otiato of Ebusakami, a tax collector at Okigwe market also died of poisoned weed drinking in Owerri study area.
United Nations states that crime is optionally severe problem for the majority of the Nations in the world. Domestic crime has outstripped the control of most in individual nations and crime has accelerated beyond the current reach of international community. The report continues to state that crime is a serious impediment to harmonious development and it dissipates or misdirects the gains of economic growth and impairs the quality of life. Crime threatens the safety well being and personal integrity of us all. Criminality is reckless on environmental destruction, is alarming and is taken as a crime against the world itself. The Nuclear Weapons Firm situated in the West and East of the World emit dangerous nuclear fumes into space, factious and demonstrators burn smoke and plastic fumes into space, pollution of waters and air is wanting and none wants to address it as a problem. The developed states hardly address such crimes since it will affect their economic gains from these criminal trade and activities. The United Nations Charter on Human Rights has to be enforced to solve international problems on economic, social, cultural and humanitarian concern to encourage law enforcement agencies to help stamp out crime in the world. Banditry on land and the sea discourages travel, commerce and undercuts the efforts of farmers, herdsmen and artisans to establish a secure live hood. Studies have shown that outlawed criminals in certain states and regions shift their movement to other regions and continue to operate in the contemporary world taking the advantage of the isolated terrains in developing states like Somalia, Sudan, Algeria and Libyan known harbours for terrorism. The processors and traffickers of illicit drugs maintain base links hideouts in mountainous and forested countries.
United Nations (1991) depicted, that the interwoven expansion of transitional organized crime and the trafficking of illicit drugs provide the most powerful argument to debate for international cooperation in the criminal justice field. The study area of Owerri has several criminal cases emanating drug and substance abuse such as brewing of alcohol in homes. Drugs and alcohol is sold by most of the law offenders and the poor citizen in the mentioned regions. The drunkards cause crime to the communities in many ways such as wife battering, separation, suicide, defilement, sexual harassment, assault and children abuse in the area. According to the United Nations areas where illicit drugs are harvested there is effects of addiction and lawlessness among their own population. [8] Gender based violence and street assaults, gang, warfare, domestic household strife such as women child physical abuse in closed doors are experienced due to structural nature relating to ingrained motion about the lesser status of women as well as stress due to emotional, psychological, social and economic pressure. Article 1 of the United Nations of Human Rights defines the four basic purposes of United Nations as to achieve international problems of economic, social cultural or humanitarian characterized in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedom for all distinction such as to race, sex, language or religion. Article 2 of the United Nations (1948) on the Declaration of Human Rights States that everyone is entitled to social and international order in which the rights and freedom set forth in the declaration is fully seized. Among these rights is Article 3 on the right to life, liberty and the security of person. Article 12 provides that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference or attack upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks and article 7 of section 2 stipulates that no one shall be deprived of his property.
There are many people involved in crime in the world today. Some the most common crimes in the world and even in Owerri community among the Eziobodo of Nigeria are violent crimes like murder which is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice or aforethought. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice. Aggravated assault which is classified into (i) with the intention of committing some additional crimes especially on burglary, robbery and rape the assailant use to achieve their intended goal. Forcible rape amount to an act of having sexual intercourse with a woman by force and against her will like a case of a woman who was raped, murdered and her vagina chopped off at Okigwe in the 1990s. Robbery as the act of theft from a person, accompanied by violence, threat of violent or putting the person in fear is common in urban centres and rural settlements leading to underdevelopment. Markets in robbery stricken areas have failed to develop due to frequent robbery. The crime of kidnapping which involves the unlawful taking and carrying away of human being by force and against his/her will, is not common in the study region but happens in many parts of Nigeria especially in Imo state.
Other categories of crime are property crimes which involves taking money property, but usually without force or threat of force. Some of the property crimes are larceny, defined as the unlawful taking and carrying away of another person's property with the intent of depriving the owner property. Burglary defined as the unlawful entering into the building and stealing. There are as cases of criminals who raid homes and murder residents without carrying property. Embezzlement is the wilful taking or converting to one's own person money or property, which was lawfully acquired by the wrong doers by reason of office, employment, or position or trust. This is common in public officers and the civil servants in Owerri. Grants, donations and government funds are misappropriated and siphoned into the pockets of the workers and some key leaders in the community. Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has previously been misused but between 2008 to 2010 the seating committee together with the member of parliament have done good projects on infrastructure, health, education, security and poverty reduction through micro-finance business enterprises by women and the youth groups. Arson not very common in the study area is the burning of houses or other buildings. This was experienced after the rigging of the 2007 Nigeria elections where shops, homes and farms were set ablaze or torched during the conflict outrage across the state. Fraud which is the false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words or by false conduct or misleading allegation or by concealment of that which deceives and is intended to deceive and cause lethal harm. Forging is the fraudulent making of a false writing having an apparent legal significance and counterfeiting as under the federal law, falsely making, forgiving or altering any obligation or other security with intent to defraud.
Crime of moral offences imply the violations of virtue in sexual conduct such as fornication, seduction, prostitution, adultery, illicit cohabitation, sodomy, bigamy and incest have also been experienced in the victims who harbour the information to the police, law enforcement groups including the human rights for fear of stigmatization. Public orders which make up the violations that constitute a threat to public safety or peace such as disorderly conduct, loitering, driving while intoxicated are also common in the study area. The most of the taxi drivers and touts are always drunk while on duty and at times cause violence or accidents on roads. The crime has hindered socio-economic development in the area in terms of health, education, infrastructures, water and sanitation, housing within the region. Organised crimes as such gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, narcotics and labour racketeering are highly practiced by the youths in urban centres in the study regions. The main underlying factor is unemployment of uneducated youths. Some of them engage in black market goods like sugar, textile, shoes, beans maize, rice, electronics from Nigeria, White collar crimes and corporate crimes which are generally described as non violent offences committed for financial gains by means of deceptions by entrepreneurs and other professional skills and opportunities like environment pollution manufacture and sale of unsafe products, price fixing, price gouging and deceptive advertising. Misuse of resources has dented Owerri development, 1963 no factory or economic investment project has been established in Owerri by the government or the leaders in the region. The area is marginalized from economic development schemes due to corruption, lack of transparency and accountability. Occupation crimes which are the offences committed through opportunities created in the course of legal business or profession and crime committed by professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, acting in their professional capacities. In Owerri the police take bribes from the criminals, release them, the lawyers and magistrates of Maseno Principal Magistrate Law Court are also compromised not to prosecute the law offenders and terminate the criminal cases. In Maseno Hospital, a woman in August 2010 died after unsuccessful surgery by inerrant doctor and the efforts of the next of kin to pursue the prosecution were blurred due bribery and delayed due process in the court of law. Victimless crimes which make up the offences involving a willing and private exchange of goods or services that is in strong demand but is illegal like gambling, prostitution, drug law violation and sexual acts between consenting adults.
2.3 The causes of crime in Owerri
Criminologists have tried to study the root causes of crime and how it might be prevented throughout history and even tried to explain what causes abnormal social behaviour including crime since the time of Hammurabi the law given in Babylon 3700 years ago. The studies done around he world reveal causes of crime are anger, jealousy, revenge, or pride. The desire for more or material gains, expensive belonging or material leads to property crimes such as robbery, burglary, white collar crimes and auto theft. The desire to control revenge or power leads to violent crimes such as murder, assault, and rapes. These violent crimes usually occur on impulse or the spur of the moment when emotions run high. Property crimes are usually planned in advance by those who are in need of money and materials to sell for income gain to support their lives and families. In 1970 to 1978 property crimes in America rose from 7.4 million to 11 million while the Number of people placed in state and federal prisons grew from 290,000 to over 1.2 million. The study of 1998 revealed that longer prison sentence had little effects on discouraging criminal behaviour.
On parental relation Clecky (1980) describes the cycle of violence or pattern found in family histories as where people grow up with abuse or anti social behaviour in the home will be much more likely to mistreat their own children who will in turn follow the same pattern. Neglected or abused children are likely to cause crime, sexual abused in childhood often leads the victim to become sexual predators as adults and these progress through generations where the cycle of socio-patchy keeps repeating itself. Heredity and Brain activity, studies have shown that antisocial disorders and influence over crime to show that crime can also be generic. Some research shows identical twins had the same animal behaviour as their biological parents. Then to the adoptive parents Hare (1986) psychologist identified connection between brain activity and antisocial behaviour and formed out that experienced brain reactions to dangerous situations than most people such kind of brain function leads to greater risk taking in-life, with criminals not fearing punishments. The researchers have used Computerized Tomography (T scans), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Position Emission Tomography (PED) to link the brain activity and a tendency to commit crime revealed that neurochemical substances in brain triggers body activity and hormones influencing criminal behaviour. The study revealed that the people who have low levels of dopamine in the brain commit violent crimes and aggression. Hormones are body substances that affect how 'organs in the body function. Education levels of the society are a cause of crime. Most of the crimes committed by like burglary, robbery, by automobile theft drug trafficking and shoplifting are conducted by criminals of poor educational backgrounds, their employment histories consisting of low wage jobs with frequency periods of unemployment. Employment at minimum wage or below living wage does not deter criminal activity.
Peer influence, influences the group to commit criminal activities. Youths who live in towns and rural setting possibly school dropouts are bound to take drugs and join gangsters to commit crimes in the community. Drugs and alcohol impair judgment and reduce inhibitions giving a person chance to commit a crime. Family household heads that cannot provide for their children man high rates of crime. Drug and alcohol, a social factor can accelerate one to develop an antisocial behaviour since they impair judgment and reduce inhibitions (socially defined rules of behaviour) thus giving a person a greater chance to commit more crimes. Some of the violent crimes caused by the group are murder, assault, sexual abuse, gender based violence, robbery, and other vulnerable targets to criminal activities. Easy access to weapons like pangas, guns and blunt objects provide a means of committing crime. Most bank robberies in Nigeria are organized with robbers armed with pistols and guns. Access to information technology also ease’s the work of criminals to commit crimes
Urbanization brings in place different types of antisocial behaviour who involve in crime in the region, city problems especially slums where the poor engage in crime like alcohol brewing and selling, and drug trafficking in Nigeria. Urban centres in Owerri have all types ethnic groups dealing in such business activities and this has also increased crime rates like murder, robbery, burglary, prostitution, child abuse, illicit sale of drugs weed and codeine, price fixing, corruption and the like in the area. The researcher in Chicago in America show that people of racial background living in urban centres were profoundly influenced into crime due to poverty and the social instability of their neighbourhoods. Poor social and economic environment produce all types of crimes. Criminologists Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950) shows that criminal behaviour was learnt through exposure to crime through relatives and peers as they socialize together. Gender disorder in the neighbourhood leads to an increased antisocial behaviour and eventually serious crimes like murder, robbery, rape, broken families, widows, may cause child abuse, assault each other, adultery, spread of diseases such HIV/AIDS, prostitution causing disorder among the citizens of in safe streets. There are crimes such as public drinking panhandling (begging for money). Most o the causes of crime are due to poverty, peer influence and social relationship with the people who commit crime in the society.
2.4 Empirical Studies On Poverty And Crime
2.4.1 The relationship between level of employment and crime
The Shorter Oxford English dictionary (1993) defines employment as an action of employing, the state of being employed, the service of work or an activity in which a person is engaged. The opposite of employment can be termed as unemployment as defined by the world Book Encyclopaedia (2001) as the state of a person who is out of work and actively looking for a job because of illness, or mental or physical disability, nor refer to people who are attending school or keeping house, such people are classified out of the labour force rather than unemployed.
According to Nigeria Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) (2007/8), The Ministry of Finance Planning And Economic Development report (2004) states that employment is obtained in big towns and separates the youths from the aging parents in rural areas and there is brain drain of the cream of Nigerians who migrate to Europe and America looking for greener pastures. The report continues to show that the World Banks Structural Adjustments Programme (SAP) and Poverty Alleviation Strategy (PAS) and the Economic Reconstruction Programme (ERP) known as privatization policies have no direct role to the suffering rural people and international policies do not consult the grassroots who are planners and implementers of the well being.
According to Owolabi (2006) examining the human theory states that the productivity increases the level of work by providing workers with specific knowledge and skills for farmers, factory workers, transporters investments in form of education and training increase the level of productivity. The theory has close relationship with employees who must be educated, trained in skills and knowledge to meet the labour market demand both at rural and urban levels. On the same motion we see Nigeria encouraging National Economic Development through education since 2003 saw free primary education started followed with free secondary education in 2008, where primary school pupils are given a grant of Nigeria shillings 1020 while learners are allocated Nigeria shillings 10650 annually to carter for fees and instructional materials. The government strategy was to increase the quality of the human resource in the country.
The workers earnings increase with the level of education where starting point of unemployment is higher and increases steeper as the level of education increases. Educational skills and training is expected to lead to higher productivity of the workers, as making of critical decisions that involve careful analysis of situations in the work place and also make the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. Owolabi (2006) studies show human resource has to be a pre- mediated design, oriented towards the future and devised to achieve goals by optimal means and is the organization’s joker to help fill unexpected vacancies, replace positions created through natural attrition, while opportunities created by product expansion or addition and to develop and return valued staff.
The human resource theory on demand on labour market surpasses the Nigeria decisions when they do not implement strategic plans and legal policies on employment of works and become arrogant as the Minister for Finance reported in the local Daily Nation Paper (2003) stating that “the government will not immediately employ teachers to support the free education programme launched on Monday. It will also not disburse Free Primary Education funds (FPE) to schools until next Month or March”, the minister for Education George Saitoti said. He retaliated that employing teachers required funding which was not included in the current budget, (Nigeria Daily Nation January 11, 2003:5). The level of employment is low and even those available have low wage pay especially in agriculture, small business enterprise, local market workers and casual workers like watchmen have a salary margins N1000 – N2000 while the rest of the categories earn to a maximum of N 5000. The next class is teachers and civil servants who command the economic power of Owerri the study area, according to the statistics, most of them earn between N15, 000 to N25, 000. They have to meet medical, education, welfare, taxes, nutritional provisions of their households. This income does not even support the basic requirements standards of the people leading to several criminal offences in both the household and the society.
The people from the poor households engage in criminal activities like robbery, corruption, bribery,
selling marijuana, codeine, cocaine, tobacco, stealing from the neighbours and other human rights violations. This is due to restrained incomes and unemployment levels in the republic of Nigeria. Investments Programme for wealth and employment creation 2003 – 2007 states that the rate was approximately 7 percent by 1986; it had increased to 6 percent and continued to rise to 25 percent in 1999. The unemployment in the same period was acute at 94 percent by 1999 and Nigeria was estimated at 14.6% globally. However the unemployment is a significant contributor to the existing class of Nigerians who live below the poverty line.
2.4.2 Relationships between family structure and crime
The definition of a family structure by Parillo (2002) depicts it to portray the golden age of a family as consisting of several children and a harmonious married mother and father, all working together, sometimes aided in life by grandparents based on spiritual values passed on the to children. Family structure can also be defined as the composition and membership of family operations and the patterning of relationships among individual groups. Others state it as a basic unit of social structure which vary from time to time and can be categorized as bourgeois family, nuclear, extended, single parents, child headed, blended family (when divorced remarry) or widow remarries, consensual union (living together but unmarried) some sex union, homosexuals, empty family nests with grown up children who self recount, complex families). According to the New Shorter Oxford English dictionary defines the family is a group of people living as one household including parent and their children boarders’ servants that end as an organization unit of the society.
Parillo (2002) show that family structures in general have changed considerably since the end of World War I and World War II due to societal trends, legal reforms and increased proportion of women in workplace. The family structures have contributed to higher roles of divorce and child suffering in most societies in the world. There is continuous entangles, husbands abused by wives, parents abused by children and brothers abused by each other. A study conducted in America in 1996 examining 7000 couples who participated in the national survey on the family households found out that most couples engaged in similar physical violence during marital fights. Parillo (2002) brings out the issue of domestic violence and abuse in households whose income cannot meet the households’ basic needs.
Another researcher in 1998 National Elder Abuse issue report shows that over 450, 000 elderly persons aged between 60 years and over experience abuse and neglect in domestic settings of which the perpetrator were family members of which 2/3 were adult children or spouses. He further elaborates that elders are the most vulnerable to abuse; women of over 80 years suffering from dementia and other diseases, with communication problems, difficulties in hearing, seeing, immobility, loss of sight and inconsistency are discriminated. The plan of taking care of elders in Owerri is bleak. Most of them languish in poverty, poor sanitation; suffer from hunger and starvation, no medical care thus live vulnerable lives.
The family households with divorced parents suffer low levels of standard of living, some experience economic hardships when they move to the neighbourhood, go to inferior schools, receive poor nutrition and health care while older children are stigmatized among the peers. “Energy Child Support Obligation” entered a new era in the 1977 when the federal government began operating a computerized directory that lists energy person newly hired by every employer in the country, enabling federal state investigators to track down parents who owe money to their children. The children from divorced homes have higher rates of delinquency problems in peer relation and school performance from the past divorced parents. Children especially girls cannot control their sexuality and making emotional commitments. Paul Amato and Bruce Keith research show that children of divorced parents are less likely to graduate from high school, have low earnings, dependent on welfare and are likely to marry at an early age; daughters have children out of wedlock and practice divorce just as their parents. Divorce has long term and short term implications on mental and physical well being of the family. Divorced women and men face depressions and may be subject to high rates of accidents, homicide, suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, anxiety, poverty, low income, child abuse, street children, and juvenile delinquency. Children with divorced parents live in depression leading to low education, school dropouts and other socioeconomic conditions as revealed in the study of Mulinge (2008) on absenteeism and academic performance of learners by HIV/AIDS in selected primary schools in Mulaa zone Kibwezi metropolis Nigeria.
The study of Mulinge (2008) shows that in 2003, there were 13 million HIV/AIDS orphans globally within Sub Saharan Africa contributing to 5 million of the vulnerable children in the world. According to the report HIV/AIDS had spread faster and the death rates have gone high to 37.8 million. In 2003 Sub Saharan African female population translates to 2/3 of the youths living with HIV/AIDS infection. Women cannot negotiate for safe sex or turn down unwanted sexual behaviour. The adolescents are at high risk of infections due to low income, unemployment, lack of security, property, as such they engage in sexual crimes. This lead to violation of the legal framework of the governments and human rights as far as human economic rights of the United Nations are concerned.
Tanui (2008) studies show that orphans are not only deprived of basic needs like food but also education, due to poverty and lack of caretakers so they likely dropout of school. Polygamous and extended families do set major family objectives to raise their standards of living of households but they end up hopelessly in poverty and crime. There is jealousy and rivalry on the attention of mother and father which hampers the smooth development of the homes and the family. In most families boys are favoured to attend school and encouraged to high levels other than girls whose academic achievements are compromised. Most of the property inheritance and ownership in households within Nigeria, Owerri study area are mostly left for men and not women.
Apicha (2007) shows girls who re violated educationally which cause them to result to early parenthood leading to street children and destitute who end up becoming thieves, beggars, smugglers, gangsters, commercial sex workers, to earn income for their daily basic provisions. Family structures are faced with hunger and starvation due to social economic problems leading to deep poverty. The 1985 publication on ending hunger, defines hunger as a desire for food. Poor households in Nigeria especially Owerri suffer from extreme hunger and starvation leading to malnutrition in children as the youths and adults are forced to use criminal means for survival. Lamentations of this kind are common in Owerri villages: “Today I licked the container that the smashed potatoes were in and tonight before bed. I lick the sides of the container “. Every year 13 – 18 million people die of hunger and starvation, every 24 hours 35,000 and over 24 minutes 18 people die most of whom are children less than 5 years. According to the research the World food Organization report states that by 1985 more people died of hunger more than the combined death toll of World War I in 1918 and World War II in 1945 and about 40% of the worlds hungry are children estimated at 15 million each year. Orphans the age of 16 – 17 years who have lost both parents continue to pose challenges to households; they suffer psychological and emotional vulnerability in addition to the material deprivation.
The government strategy for orphans and other vulnerable children as, those living on their own including street children in towns, those who are abused, neglected, abandoned, children who are abused, neglected, children in need of legal protection and alternative family care, children in hard to reach vulnerabilities and children used households where they are facing significant physical, mental, social and emotional harm.
These brings the attention of the government economic strategic plan to be implemented at local or rural level to help improve the welfare of the children and the youth to step out of poverty by being industrious and innovative .The disabled in family household suffer relative income poverty in addition to reduction in their quality of life, social stigma experience and more limited access to services. The issue needs address on the extent to which the disabled people are able to meet their specific needs such as equipment, education, employment, healthcare, good housing, safe water and sanitation. Indeed the extent to which the specific disabilities are currently preventing economic participation or reducing productivity is wanting in the study area. In accordance to Nigeria budget (2003 – 2004) show that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) report 2001 indicates that inequality in Nigeria has increased consumption gains as in equality distributed across the population, with the richest having experienced the largest rise in the living standards. Poverty continues in Nigeria as a rural phenomenon with 96% of the poor living in rural areas in 2000 (Nigeria Debt Network October 2003:4). The cases can be expressed as a common factor in family structures in Owerri study area. There is rampant issue of destitute and illegitimate children from poor households in urban centres of Owerri who are homeless, hopeless and powerless who sleep and move in Owerri study area like wild beasts. They inhale shoe gum, petrol, eat from well wishers and indulge in criminal activities like robbery, rape, substance and drug abuse, burglary, riding train, bicycles in dangerous positions, assault, defilement of girls under 14 years, hawking without license, stock theft, murder and manslaughter, keeping goods without legal authority. This concludes the statement that poverty and children deprivation within families is the main cause of crime.
Muga (1997) stated that society is commitment to eradicate poverty derives its moral justification from the enormous toll of human suffering that poverty exerts as well as from the obvious injustice and the inequalities implied in the nation’s income. According to the rationale the elimination of poverty stems from output foregone or not produced as a consequence of poverty’s negative input upon individual productive potential and from the fact that the existence of poverty coupled the society to allocate each a significant fraction from its public sector resources to combat poverty induced social ill such as crime, drug addiction mobility ignorance and slums.
Freyman (1996) states that in Africa 70% of employment in Agriculture are women who play a major role in taking care of the children, the sick, elderly, gathering wood, preparing meals, housework, taking part in community affairs, fetching water and carry 70 – 80% of the agricultural work planting, weeding, watering, processing and future households food storage. This is violation of human rights according to the Nigerian constitution 6th May 2010, women and men have the right to equal treatment including political, economic, cultural and social spheres. This has been grossly violated as the men who do the same jobs in agriculture are better paid than women in households who are also overworked at the same time exposed to gender based violence in homes. [29]. Owerri has high population with household families which are extended, single, nucleated, divorced, separated, children headed and clustered together on small land holding with little or no investment as the Vihiga Metropolis Development Plan (VDPP) 2002 – 2008 on the Effective Management for Suitable Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (EMSEGPR) “that high concentration of population is witnessed in rocky areas in Okigwe Metropolis. This has aggravated the land poverty as land submetropolis is rampant.
According to the Vihiga Metropolis Development Plan 2002 – 2008, Republic of Nigeria; Okigwe metropolis of Owerri had a population of 102, 084 people with a density of 1035 people per km2 while Owerri had 76, 457 people with a density of 1025 people per km2 . The area is densely populated with a total fertility rate of 5.5 percent. The report continues to reveal that the households’ access to piped water was 200; portable water 22, 000, numbers of permanent rivers 4, wells 50, protected springs 200, boreholes 24, and house hoods with roof catchments 99, 188 and the average distance to the water points was 1 kilometre. Up to today the objectives of these strategic plan has never been realized and even those which had been established have collapsed. Other factors which affected the households and social family structures was urbanization and industrialization that has made families become smaller, with few children, kinship has become less important and the growing emphasis on individual rights has led to redefinition of marriage as a source of fulfilment rather than a social, obligation or an economically rewarding partners.
2.4.3The relationship between social support and crime
Social support involves financial and material support to the vulnerable poor households for them meets the socioeconomic challenges. In 2003 the Nigeria National Strategy addresses the mitigation on factors of susceptibility of HIV/AIDS infections as well as minimizing the burden of the disease at individual community and national level. The common people include Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) policy which has tested over 70, 000 people and the OVC policy to target the poor vulnerable groups thus aiming to address the needs of an estimated 1.7 million of orphans. This initiative helps to reduce the HIV/AIDS prevalence within households. In Nigeria, Pathfinder International has supported reproductive health, family planning and training to Nigerian citizens since 1969. They have worked closely with over 60 Non governmental and Community Based Organizations, government agencies, public and private sector institutions to reach the poorest communities with reproductive health information including contraceptives, counselling materials and childcare services. (http://www.pathfind.org). It is estimated that HIV prevalent among the young and middle aged Nigerians (the most productive segment of the population) die of HIV/AIDS. An estimate of 700 Nigerians die daily of HIV/AIDS related diseases or causes leading to orphans and women headed households even more vulnerable to poverty. The burdens of HIV/AIDS, malaria and water borne diseases weigh heavily on both the country and Nigerian families affecting income. Food security and development potential has made Life expectancy to be down by 46 years from 59 in 1989.
Over the past 30 years, poverty has been on the rise in Nigeria. Poverty seems to be the paradox in a country that has the best development economy in Eastern Africa. With sector and substantial foreign exchange, earning from agricultural exports and tourism Nigeria is still a low income country with per capita income of about US dollars 360. It is ranked 148 among 177 countries in United Nations Development in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and standards of living. To address the above problem IFAD has invested a total of US dollars 1115 million to loan financial programme and three grant financed programmes supporting the government efforts to reduce the rural poverty. Investments include US dollars 18 million under Belgium Survival Fund Joint Programme (BSFJP) and also US dollars 68 million from other donors. The government of Nigeria and project beneficiaries have contributed about US dollars 56 million and US dollars 11 million towards helping the needy programmes among the vulnerable in Nigeria.
World Bank funds agricultural projects and establishes projects in poverty stricken regions. Most of the support projects and programmes are appropriate technologies, increasing small hold rings on livestock production, promoting of farms income generating activities for smallholders and encouraging community participation. Nigeria Women Finance Trust (KWFT) a micro finance institution helps to improve the women income through saving and credit. The institution supports over 40,000 women members throughout the country. It has intensified its focus in rural areas among the poor households, remote and marginalized areas. Social support can also take a form of sharing domestic tasks in the households mostly abused by men due to conflicting gender roles. Newman (2002) uses the conflicts theory to show how women have been abused in households. They work for free outside the main stream economy and if women they were to be paid the minimum wage rate, then it exceeds the men’s payments. The Nigerian government put in place in 2002 signalled a major political change in Nigeria as indicated in the Economy Recovery Strategy for Wealth Creation (KERSWC) which includes Nigeria Poverty Reduction Paper (KPRP) (2001 – 2004) to improve on governance and reduce corruption, promote better health services and education, promote structural reforms for liberalized economy, to achieve equitable distribution and conservation of the Natural resources and promote the private sector. These programmes are subjected to support the poor households support them out of poverty sustainable development. IFAD supports the Nigerian government to reduce the poverty through integration of small holders producers and finance world for all her labour as mother and housekeeper, childcare, transportation, errands, cleaning, laundry, coking, bill paying, grocery shopping her yearly salary would be over average salary of male full time work. (Newman 2002: 393). Despite significant shifts in attitudes towards gender roles and the accelerated entry of women into paid labour force in the past few decades, housework continues to be predominantly female as they take the entire household and employment tasks.
2.4.4The relationship between level of education and crime
Herslin (2002) expressed that education is one of the main approved ways of reaching the desired goals of an individual in the society. The children of the poor are ill prepared for the bewildering world. They confront with conflicts sharply within their background. The schools where the poorest children attend are inferior to the school the rich and educated people take their children. These barriers contribute to school dropouts, blocking them legitimate avenues for educational advancements leading to street children, robbery, burglary, selling drugs, pimping, prostitution, gambling and other income criminal activities. Education has the strongest effects on economic status of the households. The people who have not completed high school experience higher poverty rates than those completed. Those who go beyond high school (college or university) get better employment and income. Research has proved that parental involvement in educational process is a key element in motivating educational achievements of their children especially through Parents Teachers Association (PTA) at school levels. (Thompson and Hickey 2002).
Thompson and Hickey (2002) warms in his research study that the benefits of education are too high and invisible if the individual or person who achieved an education defile their home communities by going for greener pastures. This type of brain drain leads to leadership deficiency within the community. There is no one to strategic plan and make decisions all sorts of development in the region. The parents need to encourage the children to go to school a prospect of a good future. The human rights legislations stress for equality rights, welfare rights and economic rights that require proper of education against poverty and starvation. These laws remain meaningless to the people of Owerri they have no hope of meeting the socio-economic challenges like education, food, shelter, land and healthcare. There is a big contradiction between the equality rights that guarantees equal citizenship, equality before the rule of law. There is segregation in resource distributions in all sectors and arms of the government of Nigeria. In education the poor attend rural school while the middle class and the rich families attend urban model schools ending up with quality education compared to the poor student.
An example is the Nigerian Parliament which is full of sons and daughters of former politicians in the governmental leadership. The educational gap between the poor and the rich Nigerians is constantly widening everyday.
Bhorat and Leibbrant (2002) show the education has a paramount role in redeeming poverty, because it contributes to improve earnings of the poor both in the job competition and earnings in a statistic labour market and a source of growth and employment. Consequences of growth inequality in education resulting from certain age cohorts who never attended education pass the same to their households from generation to generation. Technology has increased the educational fields and economics enhancements as the people can communicate, trade, study and access all their needs through the internet, computers and phones due to globalization. But the dangers of globalization are that it promotes white collar crimes among the system through fraud of public funds and misallocation of government budgets leaving the citizens vulnerable. United Nations (1991) asserts that new technologies are used in confiscations of tribal land, frustration of land reformers or poisoning of labourers by chemical insecticides.
Schmallenger (2004) shows the effects of family divorce ruins the educational levels of children and the socio-economic status their households. The children of divorced parents live in depression and frustration helping them to indulge in criminal activities. Divorce and separation creates avenues for child crimes like juvenile delinquency rape, early marriage, stealing, gambling, child labour, murder, incest, assault within the community. Education improves the economic status of the community and the household.
According to Owolabi (2006) employment of workers goes with skills and training and leads to higher productivity, making of critical decisions that involve careful analysis of situations requires personal higher levels of education. As the saying goes nothing comes on a silver platter, Nigerians and the people of Owerri must take relevant strategies that will reduce poverty situations. He further stipulates that the current educational qualifications are sought to modern sector jobs and without leads to unemployment. Poorly educated societies have numerous criminal activities like marijuana and marijuana selling, drug abuse and serious violation of human rights while the educated take up sophisticated crimes of corruption, bribes like the Nigerian police, the judiciary taking bribes to change a case and delays of the due process to destroy the case evidence. The workers violate the work codes and franking of the government money services leading to poverty.
2.4.4The relationship between property and crime
Property as defined by Oxford Dictionary (1993) as a thing belonging to a person or persons or possessions especially real estates, housing, shares and investments. Perkin (2005) sees property as established titles to ownership use and disposal of factors of production and goods and services that are enforced in court. In accordance to United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 3 that everyone has the rights to own property alone as well as in association with others and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. The Nigerian 2010 constitution recently ratified, in chapter 4 stipulates that every person has the right either individually or association with others to acquire and own property each of any description each in any part of Nigeria.
Marcus (1999) said the material wealth of a society is determined ultimately by the productive capacity of its economy that is the goods and services that can be provided to its members. The productive capacity is a function of the real assets of the economy like land, buildings. Knowledge and machines are used to produce goods and the workers whose skills are necessary to use those resources. Financial assets certainly contribute to the wealth of individuals or firms holding them in bonds or stocks, deposits, life insurances, pension reserves, corporate equity mutual shares and debt securities. The Nigerian inheritance laws affect everyone who owns property in Nigeria. The law of succession Act and civil produce apply to all cases of intestate of testamentary succession in Nigeria. The Nigerian constitution guarantees that foreigners of different nationalities or religion are
not treated differently to Nigerian on inherits, buy and sell property in Nigeria. There is the law of succession of both moveable and immovable if the owner dies.
The Nigerian law determines ownership and through courts where by property ownership and how its distributed between spouses and next of kin is verified, in case of land, title deeds are used the heir is given whether widow or children or suitable guardian. Shares ownership in Nigeria on real estate prices is still souring it can be difficult for first line buyers to get their feet on the first ladder. The prospects for the middle class Nigerians buying a home can seem very daunting due to high house prices, unachievable deposits and lenders looking for low risks.
According to the above research it indicates that the poor with little income remains at the lower ladder on property ownership in Nigeria. The cash deposits are difficult to find, securing mortgage of 20 – 50% of the purchase price and monthly costs of 50% are not easy for most of the people living in Nigerian communities to achieve. In the Nigerian communities most of the property is owned by males and not females in accordance to the cultural rights. But there is a wave of change as both men and women own land, houses, cash deposits, insurance, stocks, bonds, pension schemes and shares. This is a proof of equality in property ownership in Nigeria though it has not picked up well in the local communities who are still holding on the traditional rights of property ownership. Women’s land rights in Nigeria both the inequitable legal structures and traditional practices. Data shows the female headed households have fewer assets especially when children grow up.
Colander (2004) shows that markets require the establishment of property rights. Establishing property rights is a difficult political process. African countries have problems for they establish property rights with an underdeveloped political process. Political stability limits internal investment, income distribution in many developing countries is highly skewed, and there are few rich people and an enormous number of very poor people while the middle class is often small. Colander (2004) argues that the inequality among community members leads to higher levels of savings by the rich and therefore has no significance advantage for developing countries. The statement relates to Nigeria where they have immersed lots of land, machinery, vehicles and other household properties whereas the majority poor have little or no land with few household assets. Income from households savings are part of spending unit income property which is not consumed and all expenditure made by spending limits for purchase of durables and jewellery was treated as part of the savings. Household’s investments defined as the allocation of households’ savings among different assets for future return or benefits are grouped into financial investments, physical and net charge in claims. Financial includes fixed accounts, fixed deposits, governments bonds and securities, share and cash balances in current and cash in hand. Insurance life premier, provident fund contributions, widow and orphans pension scheme and loans guaranteed are all forms of investments.
In the federal times much of the land was held communally, it belonged to everyone and everyone used it, was common land and community resource. The land tenure system in the 1960’s and 70’s decided to allocate parcels to individuals as land ownership which has now created conflicts between the rich and the poor in Nigeria and Owerri study area. Indeed the evolution of the economy brought landholders who determined the use of land and rent it to other individuals. Many people in Owerri believe that the property rights were unfairly distributed and even state that those who own most property in this region were rest legally acquire. The concept of private ownership must exist and must be accepted by individuals in the society. Lack of property to the citizens of Owerri has prompted property crimes like stealing, land disputes, burglary, stock theft, organized crimes where the criminals sell drugs to purchase property and basic household needs. It is in this respect the research wants to establish and make recommendations on how to curb crime in the study area.
2.4.5 The relationship between financial standing and crime
Financial standing of the people is born with different skills and talents. They group up in different schools, metropoliss, and control different amount of capital and natural resources and encounter different prejudices. These differences by themselves may cause income to vary, as people go through life, the decision they take cause income to vary still more as a result earn nothing while others earn millions of dollars a year (kulkarni 2005:409)
World Bank (2003) show the low income level was US dollar 1860 for family household of 4 people which is about 30% of their income in the world. The report continues of state that it used US dollars 1 or 2 per person per day as measure of global poverty. Two dollars per day or US 2920 per year for a family of 4, is just 16% the United States Government. Over 2-8 billion (56%) of the world’s population live on less than US dollars 2 per day and 1.3 billion people (23%) of the worlds population live on less than 1 dollar per day. Sub Saharan Africa is the poorest region of the world, where half of all the people live by one US dollar a day or less. In Ethiopia, 4 out of 5 fall below this threshold. It is estimated the percentage of poverty will fall from 76 percent to 70 percent over the period (1990 – 2015) but with rapid population growth in the poorest African countries the absolute number of poor people is projected to rise by nearly 60%.
Mauri (2004) show those households saving are part of the spending unit for purchase of consumer durables and jewellery and was treated as part of savings. The relationship of these statements and the income in Africa households’ shows that poverty situations will persist as there are no savings, investments as some of income for the wages reaped is consumed on the same day and not enough to subsidize financial needs of the entire household. The investment as grouped into financial investments, physical and net charges in claims. Financial investments include savings accounts, fixed account and securities, share and cash balances in current account and cash in hand. The study in relation to the Owerri study region in Nigeria has no levels of investment in from of skilled human resource, capital goods, household investment, and unemployment to reap minimum income to raise the household standard of living. The Owerri has developed a theory which shows the income and consumption as something from hand to mouth a form of handout. The people live in the now and not the future.
Households that are largely headed by females, and by adults with low educational attainment or deriving most income from agriculture are more likely to be poor than others. Households with larger infants and children have a lower level of consumption and thereby a higher probability of being poor. Female headed household in urban areas are poorer than other similar households. The education of both households headed and of the spouse appears to be an important determinant of poverty, wage workers, whether in public or private sector are better off than informal workers such as unpaid family workers (Nigeria Investment Programme March 2004). These reflections tell us that the relationship between household incomes in Nigeria both in the rural and urban cannot sustain the better standards of living and financial standing of the households in Nigeria and Owerri, region with an increase of criminal.
Owerri New (March, 2010) show that investment the business fraternity leaders at all levels and potential investors should focus on economic development. Simple business were captured in the study including brick- moulding, fish farming, diary goal and cattle rearing, bee- keeping poultry –farming, horticulture, greenhouses fruit and vegetable growing, small-scale business, was held in Owerri under the sponsorship of Nigeria investment Authority to promote trade and commerce. This is and Economic stimulus Programmer (ESP) to help create employment and other source of household income to improve their financial standing.
Parrillo (2002) show that in the past women often depended on men for financial support and so might hesitate to terminate even a miserable marriage, but now many have the ability to become self supporting. The statement relates to the roles of women in Owerri whose changing roles have made them take up the financial, management and decision making in homes. They work on small business holdings, agriculture and casual labour for there wage incomes. Households heads who does no have proper financial standing than their spouses have had family struggles leading to divorce, separation child abuse, assault, and even murder commonly record in Owerri study area. The Divorced widows, husbands with low income result to illicit alcohol (Marijuana) drinking and tobacco smoking which they openly say reduces stress depression giving their freedom to relax and forger the attributions of poverty. Most of them drink to take night hours and reach home when of poverty. Most of them drink to late night hours and reach home when to find every household family members are asleep. [17]. Young women join the commercial sex world to gain financial support her family and the family. Ameir (2007) shows sexual exploitation particular affects young girls, poorest women and young men. The poor view other types of culture change as positive. Negative and positive live hood impacts will vary between situations among people, overtime and on the extent on which people, over time and priories are able to influence the poverty are able to influence the poverty process.
The land tenure system is discriminative on women thus they have to seek for decision for land usage from their husbands to turn into income generating enterprises. Though the portions are too small to sustain crop farming and livestock production the income level of the homes, some peasant farmers have livestock on zero grazing for dairy, poultry for meat and eggs and vegetables gardens whose produce is harvested and sold to buyers in the local market centres. Some of these products are stolen by errand thieves who steal them both at night and day for their basic needs. Nigeria budget (2003 – 2004) show that the poor performance of households was attributed to low production and yield, poor prices in adequate incentives to expand production, lack of markets, environmental degradation and insecurity issues which are common in the study area. The Nigeria government plans to modernize the economy by eradicating poverty through multi-sectional interventions. [5] Nigeria should have current legal and administrative infrastructure for financial management practice in the government enshrined in the legislation that directly or indirectly affects the budget transparency, accountability and implementation to raise household incomes in Nigeria and the study area to avoid poverty and numerous criminal offences.