Advancing the Anti-Poverty Crusade through the Enforcement of the Fundamental Right to Education under Nigerian Law

Abstract

Poverty is a ubiquitous concept whose impact on humankind has been felt throughout all civilizations. From generation to generation of humanity, the struggles in society, whether intentionally or unwit­tingly, were always about poverty and how best to confront this socio­economic “monster.” Poverty is the inability of humans to meet their most basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing. This can also refer to the low quality of the basic necessities of life—for instance, the food affordable by an individual may make for an imbalanced diet that can lead to poor health. Therefore, even when a person or community can afford some basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing, these should be of some minimum standard. This presupposes a distinction between basic needs and felt needs. While the phenomenon of poverty clearly applies to basic needs, felt needs are those not immediately required on the scale of priority. Such needs may include cars, wristwatches, telephones, and other such objects that may even extend to ostenta­tious goods. The standards of assessment of poverty differ from community to community, and from generation to generation. What may be perceived as poverty in one community or time period may be seen as affluence in another.