After Satan, the second most blackmailed, ridiculed, mocked, insulted, dragged, and repugnantly lampooned set of people are ‘poor men’ – the way society uses every available and created opportunity to derision ‘poor men,’ one would wonder if being poor is a crime. Then I ask, how many people are not poor in Nigeria?
In recent weeks, social media has been inundated with the unfortunate news of the pregnant woman who tragically lost her life after allegedly being denied treatment at a hospital due to her husband’s inability to pay a ₦500,000 deposit.
The husband of the woman, Akinbobola Folajimi, in a post, had alleged that “The doctor told me to deposit 500k and I begged him to start doing whatever is needed to save my wife, we needed emergency support while I run around for the money but they drove us out like they don’t care. Unfortunately, they blindly rejected us and asked me to take her to the General Hospital at Epe, even though the doctor knows that Epe from Lakwe is way too far for her condition. Before we rushed her to Epe, she was gone. How???? such a wicked institution, well only jah knows and sees all. this is just too much for me.”
Reacting, the said Lagos private hospital, As Salam Convalescent Centre, located in Iwerekun 1, Ibeju/Lekki denied claims that it demanded an upfront payment of N500,000 before offering treatment to the pregnant woman, Kemi.
In an exclusive telephone interview with PUNCH Metro, the founder of the hospital, Rauf Salami, denied the husband’s accusation. He stated that contrary to the claims made online, there was never a discussion about money during the brief time the family spent at the hospital.
Since the story reverberated in the news, the husband has been a subject of discussion over his inability to pay the said alleged amount. His revelation has fueled the growing condemnation of ‘poor men’ and why they don’t deserve love or even getting married.
All over social media, there have been similar comments from the lame, blind, poor, and rich questioning why a man should get married in the first place without having the financial capacity to cater for his household.
We see comments like “you have a whole nine months to plan for your wife’s delivery but couldn’t raise ordinary N500k”. I have seen people that I know that have never had as little as N100K in their accounts who are adding their voice to the unfortunate development. What is the percentage of Nigerians who have N500K in their accounts today?
While it is tragic that the man lost his dear wife under such circumstances, I find it disdainfully nauseating that the society is again jumping on this to make a mockery of ‘poor men’. “No woman should marry a man that is not financially stable, women should vet the financial status of a man before marrying him”. Some of you always forget that life can happen to anyone and one who is financially stable today can become a beggar tomorrow – and then you ask yourself, how many men are financially stable in Nigeria today?
At the homefront, family front, and societal front, people capitalize on every opportunity to ridicule poor men. What is even tragic is that even a poor man will seize an opportunity to mock his fellow poor men – or don’t you know that most of the people questioning Folajimi over his inability to raise N500K don’t even have N200K in their account?
In November 2022, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the number of Nigerians living in poverty stands at over 133 million, noting that the figure represents 63 percent of the nation’s population. I am wondering what the latest statistics will be by the time it comes out because between 2023 and now, the hardship has been very loud, roaring louder than a hungry lion. Yet, these same poor people ridicule others for an unfortunate situation.
Let me also burst your bubbles: a recent financial report by the Nigerian Financial Service Market revealed that only 2.4% of Nigerians earn above two hundred thousand Naira (N200,000.00) monthly. That goes to show that we are a poor nation; we are a poor people, and majority of us are living in poverty.
Following the above statistics, it is lugubriously insalubrious to make a mockery of ‘poor men’ when, in the real sense, the majority of us are actually poor. While the standard being set for women not to marry a man is good, the reality is that most of them will eventually remain single for life because we are in a poor society.
Remarkably, some of the people you label as ‘poor men’ work harder than some of the privileged few, but like my brother, Enahoro Akibe will say, “na who e enter for dey say him brother no plan well”.
Irrespective of status, achievement, or wealth, no human is more human than another human. We must learn to relate with people without making a mockery of their financial status. No well-thinking man desires to be poor, but fate differs. Stop making a mockery of ‘poor men’; you might even be poorer than the person you’re ridiculing. How many of you have N500k in your account?
Stanley Ugagbe is a Social Commentator. He can be reached via stanleyakomeno@gmail.com.
