“A Financial Holocaust”

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN NIGERIA

ACCORDING to a UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) report, sub-​Saharan Africa is suffering “a financial holocaust.” Almost half the population​—some 220 million people—​live in absolute poverty, unable to care for their most basic needs. The average citizen is 20 percent poorer than he or she was a decade ago.

“In education,” says the report, “the 1980s can only be described as a lost decade.” Spending per student dropped by one third, and enrollment in primary schools fell from 79 to 67 percent. Health-​care services are also waning in many African countries, with many clinics closing because of lack of staff and medicine.

The report lists several causes of the continent’s economic crisis, including military spending, declining trade, and colossal debts, which experts say can never be repaid. “Africa cannot recover,” says the UNICEF report, “without an international effort on a scale that has not yet been contemplated.”

Is this likely to occur? The Bible realistically states: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.” (Psalm 146:3) The solution to Africa’s deep-​seated problems does not rest with the governments of men. It is God’s Kingdom that will bring lasting relief​—not just to Africa but to the entire world.​—Matthew 6:10.

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WHO/​OXFAM