I have come to realize that being a common man in our current society is a plaque, because the government doesn't care about the poor man or commoner, a commoner is invisible to the government. Being a poor citizens makes you a prey , not just to the government, but also the wealthier citizens. In this post I will be using the case of people of makoko in Lagos State, Nigeria, these are millions of people struggling to survive in a poor environment surrounded by water, no proper education and healthcare and yet the government destroyed their wooden houses built on water and didn't consider settling them. The people of makoko are only guilty of being low class citizens, who lost their ancestral homes because of intimidation from the government, lack of power or even legal authority. The government that's suppose to protect them and provide better jobs, schools and healthcare system for them, took their homes forcefully. They are poor and that is the only reason why the government being inconsiderate and cruel to them, what's happening to them currently can't happen to a wealthy person, they took their home, brought down their shelter , houses , and rendered millions of people homeless, deprived them of justice without a proper settlement, their homes were destroyed. Not even a dime to start a new life elsewhere, no empathy because they are commoners or low class citizens.
The government is currently destroying the belongings of the people in makoko who are just petite traders, fishermen, canoe riders .etc. but will allocate millions to financial institutions, oil and gas companies and many other multi-million companies, instead of empowering this poor people struggling to put food on their table, with the poorest housing systems and lack of education. This people have been neglected for decades, they still found survival and peace in their suffering, but yet the government found an opportunity in their own home and couldn't settle them before destroying what they own , couldn't settle them financially to start something new. The government only care about the vote coming from this poor citizens during elections, and not their well being as humans. With the current economy of my country, I really doubt if those people will ever get better and even if generous citizens try to help, it's going to be difficult to reach out to the millions of people affected.
If the people of makoko where to be among the wealthy Nigerians, living in bigger houses and have full knowledge about their legal rights over their properties, I don't think they will be stepped on by the government like the people of Makoko. They will be properly settled, given money that's worth their properties and even more, like extra money for inconvenience too. That's why I believe being poor made them prey to the government, the narrative wouldn't have been the same if they were the upper class citizens.
Apart from corruption which we know is a part of major issues in our countries today I believe there are many other factors contributing. One of the factors is classism, we can all agree that we have low and high citizens in every country. The government, power and authority is closer to the wealthier man than it could ever get to the poor. The resource's produced by this poor citizens is of no use to the government and inflation hits the poor the most , but the money invested in oil and gas companies, financial institution and many other sectors is what the government can see and profit from, that's why the poor people are always neglected by the government.
