such as education, profession, aspiration
and healthcare options are also important
features of the middle class. According
to a 2015 study by the World Bank
Group, what seems to differentiate the
middle-class is the fact that its members
have climbed the social class rather than
inherited a status in life. Their relative
social mobility is attributed to sheer talent
and effort, qualities that enable them
serve as the engine for entrepreneurship,
innovation and change. Barack Obama,
immediate past president of the USA,
while delivering a speech in Kansas in
December 2011 argued that the middle
class was of strategic importance to the
overall strength and sustainability of any
economy. He asserted that if any country
intends to build a stable and flourishing
economy, it must make concerted efforts
towards growing and empowering its
middle class as it is the middle class that
grows the economy and not the rich.
Thus, when the middle class is not thriving,
businesses suffer, workers are laid off, and
unemployment and income inequalities
widen. Under such adverse circumstances,
economic recession and even depression
would easily set in.
Middle Class Shrinking–
both Numerically and
Consumption Spending
terms
The African middle class as a share of total population according to AfDB Criteria
The general lack of the above in most
African countries, Nigeria inclusive, can
be adduced as a major cause of the
continued shrinking of the African, and
Nigerian, middle-class, both in purchasing
power and numerically., The failure by
government to invest adequately in,
nor provide enabling framework for the
provision of infrastructure and amenities
including education, healthcare, effective
transport systems, security etc. hampers
the development of economic activity
and entrepreneurship, weakening the
economic and moral fabric of society,
widening the gap between the haves and
have nots.
For instance, with education spend in
2018 a meager 1.7% of GDP compared
to 4.7% average across the sub-Sahara,
it is no surprise that UNICEF statistics on
Nigeria tallies an estimated 13.2million
children out of school, the highest such
number in the world. An event that has
been attributed to the general failure
of the public education system due to
underfunding and underdevelopment. On
the corollary, the rise in number of private
schools has not solved the challenge
as the average tuition cost for private
schools are beyond the affordability of a
larger population. With most households
in the middle-income bracket straining
under the impact of the bloated expenses
required to send their children to school,
the lower middle class are barely able to
afford the most basic education for their
children. This has serious consequences
on household purchasing power, learning
and skill acquisition as well as occupational
mobility in future.
In some African countries, a new middle
class has emerged and is strongest in
countries that have a robust and growing
private sector as many middle-class
individuals tend to be entrepreneurs. In
addition to inclusive economic growth
and impactful public policy targeted
at reducing inequality, stable, secure,
well-paying jobs with good benefits and
higher tertiary education are pivotal to
the creation and sustenance of a strong
middle class.
Countries that have higher levels of
educational
attainment,
developed
infrastructure, good healthcare systems
and human capital development in
general tend to have larger middle-class
populations than those that do not.
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The Corvus | September 2019