Abstract
There are global efforts aimed at eliminating extreme poverty. However, poverty levels in Africa are still seen to be high. Ghana a country located on the West coast of Africa has performed relatively better than other African countries in the fight against poverty. In this West African country, a key correlation between poverty and rural-urban migration can be made. Poverty is a key push factor of migration and in recent times, there is a growing phenomenon of young females migrating from the northern parts of Ghana where poverty is relatively higher, to the south in search of jobs. This essay explores the underlying causes of poverty in Ghana and its effect on society. It also aims to investigate whether the rural urban migration phenomenon is the most significant effect on the country as a whole. Some causes of poverty like inequality and exclusion, corruption and inadequate social services are highlighted and the main effects including hunger and malnutrition, low productivity and migration are discussed. Due to the multifaceted nature of poverty, a simultaneous implementation of a composite solution is needed therefore solutions including economic growth, modernisation of agriculture and good governance are suggested.
Introduction
Poverty has been a major issue confronting humanity. Poverty basically means “the absence of acceptable choices across a broad range of important life decisions- a severe lack of freedom to be or to do what one wants” (Foster et al. 2013). Over the years different ideas have been espoused on what poverty is, what the fundamental causes and consequences are, and how best to accurately measure poverty (Alkire et al. 2015).
The complexity of poverty and its evolving nature makes it a variable to constantly analyse and study. The causes and effect of poverty can be location and society specific. This essay aims to highlight causes and effects of poverty specific to Ghana and particularly, the northern part of Ghana. Also, the characteristics of migrant girls and women who move from the northern part of Ghana to big cities and towns in the south will be presented. This will support efforts geared towards better understanding of the issues and taking appropriate remedial measures. In this write-up, I will be describing and analysing the causes and effects of the issue of poverty in Ghana and investigating whether rural-urban migration is indeed the most significant effect of the issue in the country, Ghana.
Migration can be said to be one of the most prevalent effects of poverty in Africa and Ghana especially. People migrate (voluntarily or involuntarily) for different reasons and under different circumstances. There are different drivers of migration including; economic, political, demographic, social and environmental (Black et al. 2011). This usually is as a result of political or religious persecution and sudden devastating events such as war, famine, natural disasters, etc. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z8g334j/revision/1; George 2013).
People in the quest for a better life and to escape the poverty trap, travel from their present locations to new places where they believe their economic fortunes will change (De Haas 2010), thus, it is common to find people moving from rural areas to urban areas where their chances of securing a job are greater. The negative effects of migration include the fact that it mostly involves young energetic men and women and as a result, the effective labour force available to work in the rural economy especially in the agriculture sector is in short supply. This reduces productivity and adversely affects production levels (Taylor 1984 cited in De Haas 2010).
The methodology in the computation of poverty has evolved over the years (Foster et al. 2013). The measurement of poverty was previously unidimensional and the income status of an individual determined whether they were poor or not. However, poverty is more complex than focusing merely on income-in effect it is multifaceted. Thus, its measurement should be multidimensional (Sen 1976; Sen 1997; Alkire & Foster 2011; Foster et al. 2013). Therefore, variables used in measuring poverty include; expenditure/income, health, education, cooking fuel, drinking water, sanitation and type of housing.
Background Information
To situate the issues in their rightful perspectives, an overview of Ghana is presented. Ghana is a lower middle-income country located on the West coast of Africa. Specifically, the country is located on 7o56’47.497” N 1o1’23.498” W (https://www.gps-latitude-longitude.com/gps-coordinates-of-ghana). The total land size of Ghana is 238,533 km2 with a 2016 population figure of 28.3 million. The country is bound to the West by Cote d’Ivoire, to the East by Togo, to the North by Burkina Faso and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Ghana is endowed with vast natural resources which include gold, bauxite, diamond and oil to mention a few.
This African country has one of the largest economies in West Africa. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 2016 was US$42.676 billion with a per capita GDP of US$1,507. In the recent past, the services sector is the largest contributor to GDP followed by the industrial sector and finally the agricultural sector (GSS 2017). However, the agricultural sector continues to employ the largest proportion of the economically active labour force (GSS 2014b). Ghana is currently ranked the 65th country out of 119 countries on the 2017 Global Hunger Index (von Grebmer et al 2017).
The country has made great gains in reducing the prevalence of poverty. This is evident in its ability to meet the targets of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 which was halving their extreme poverty figure. The 2015 MDG Ghana report indicates that as at 2015, Ghana had halved the number of people living in extreme poverty since 1991. The records indicate that in 1991, the number of people living in extreme poverty was 36.5 percent. However, this number decreased to 8.4 percent in 2013 after the rebasing of the poverty line in 2012/2013 (GMDG 2015).
Notwithstanding these gains, the same report and others like the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) report and the Ghana Living Standards Survey round 6 (GLSS 6) show that this reduction in extreme poverty has not been evenly distributed across the country. A greater proportion of poor people in urban areas have escaped extreme poverty compared to people in rural areas. Also, the three (3) northern regions of Ghana are lagging behind in the fight against poverty and there are more poor households in the northern part of Ghana than there are in the south (GMDG 2015; GSS 2015; GSS 2014a).
The migration of young men and women from the northern part to the south in the bid to escape the poverty trap has been a common trend over the years. However, in recent times, there is a growing phenomenon where mostly young uneducated girls and women from rural areas in the north migrate to urban areas in the south in search of better opportunities. They mostly end up in the two biggest cities in Ghana, namely ‘Accra’ and ‘Kumasi’ as head porters in markets, popularly known as “Kayayei” in the local dialect.
Given the debilitating effect of poverty in every aspect of development especially for developing countries, the primary question of this write-up is “What are the underlying causes and effects of poverty in Ghana with emphasis on northern Ghana”? Also, the investigation goes on further to find out “The significance of the rural- urban migration effect on the country as a whole”
This review will attempt to address these issues by highlighting the causes and effects of poverty in Ghana with emphasis on Northern Ghana, subsequently seek to analyse the consequence of the internal migration effect and whether rural-urban migration is a consequence of significance of poverty in Ghana.
Causes and Effects of Poverty
Poverty on the global agenda
Issues of poverty have featured prominently on the global agenda. In recent times, the fight against poverty has been spearheaded by initiatives and programmes like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), culminating in significant progress being made in poverty reduction. According to the 2016 Human Development Report (HDR), between 1990 and 2015, more than 1 billion people globally escaped extreme poverty. However, as of 2013, about 767 million people, which translates into about 10.7 percent of the global population lived on less than the international poverty line of US$1.90 per person (World Bank 2016). It is also a fact that the gains made against poverty have not been evenly distributed which leads to some countries/regions experiencing lower poverty levels than others. (ibid)
Globally, the consequences of poverty are dire for any society, impacting on every facet of development. In terms of human, social and economic development, the consequences of poverty are enormous (Kanagawa & Nakata 2008). Specifically, poverty leads to hunger and malnutrition. The ramifications of hunger and malnutrition have consequential effects on the society as a whole. In the short term, the issue of malnutrition results in weight loss and when persistent, leads to irreversibly stunted growth, ultimately culminating in shorter, less productive lives (Bain et al. 2013).
Poverty also leads to food and nutrition insecurity (Weight et al. 2014). Most poor households cannot afford a nutritious diet on a consistent basis. Currently, 1 out of every 10 people on earth have insufficient food to lead a healthy life (World Food Programme [WFP] 2017). Poverty also affects the proper development of the labour force resulting in a reduction in productivity which in turn deepens the already existing menace. Due to sickness, malnutrition and general poor health, absenteeism is high thus affecting general productivity of labour (Tiwasing 2016).
Having introduced the issue of poverty on a global scale it is pertinent to narrow down to examine the poverty situation in Africa.
Poverty situation in Africa
A number of factors aggravate the incidence of poverty in Africa. Notable amongst these factors are war, conflicts and the ravaging effects of HIV/AIDS (Mufune 2015; Addae Korankye 2014), a human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome which damages the cells in an immune system and weakens the ability to fight everyday infections and diseases. As pertains around the world, these civil wars and political instability creates a situation where the most vulnerable in society, mainly women and children tend to bear the brunt of the effects. Human capital, infrastructure and economic investments are destroyed and the populace become worse off, since they are not able to engage in any viable economic activity. The situation of poverty in countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, etc. have worsened due to the many years of war. Governments in these countries are also seen to divert resources that should be spent on social and economic development into the purchase of weapons to fight the wars.
With HIV/AIDS, Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS globally (Kharsany & Karim 2016). Millions of people on the continent die from the disease annually. Medications used in the management of this disease are life-long and are also expensive. Good nutrition which is required to help restore the immune system also has financial implications. This increases the financial burden of the household and perpetuates the poverty situation as a whole. Where infected persons cannot adequately treat the HIV/AIDS disease, their immune systems breakdown leading to some becoming less productive at work which results in a loss of income in the short to medium term while others may die in the long run thus, worsening the plight of the poor household.
Corruption
is also another major cause of poverty in the continent (Addae-Korankye 2014). According to a survey by the Transparency International group, Africa has the most endemic levels of corruption globally (figure 1), permeating every facet of society. Due to corruption, most African countries are unable to meet the expectations of their citizens. This untoward practice results in increasing the cost of doing business in a country and is a disincentive for foreign investors who intend to invest in the country in the areas of infrastructure, telecommunications business and healthcare leading to reduced employment of the workforce slowing down development to invest in a country. Also, law enforcement bodies are compromised and therefore are not able to effectively enforce the laws. In all these circumstances, the already vulnerable and poor individuals are further burdened with being confined to the poor facilities and services of the public sector. This further worsens their poverty situation and undermines the fight against poverty.
Figure 1 Countries and territories ranked on perceived public sector corruption in 2016
Source: Transparency International
Lastly, but by no means the least is the prevalent and significant effect of youth migration on poverty in Africa. The youth in the African continent are migrating outside the continent or from one country to the other or from rural areas to urban areas. They are eager to leave their communities in search of “greener pastures”, with a large number of the youth either using legal or illegal routes to arrive in Europe and America as a result. There are many of these people who travel through the Sahara Desert through to Libya and cross the sea in rickety boats to Europe all in the attempt to escape poverty in their countries. A large number of them die while undertaking this perilous journey. However, many keep going on this journey due to the few success stories that they have heard. Recently, a CNN report showed how some of these young men and women who are hoping to reach Europe, got stranded in Libya and are sold into slavery (http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/07/world/un-security-council-libya-slavery/index.html). Some of these migrants are aware of the dangers involved in undertaking some of these journeys but prefer to try rather than remain in their communities where they feel a sense of hopelessness since they do not see possibilities of escaping the poverty which they face on a daily basis.
Causes of Poverty in Ghana
The causes of poverty in Ghana are generally very similar to those pertaining in Africa. However, as with every country there are a few of these causes which are peculiar and more predominant in just that country.
Inequality and exclusion in society:
Inequality and exclusion can be referred to as a main cause of poverty in Ghana (Cooke, Hague & Mckay 2016). Gender, income and ethnic inequalities forms a basis in some societies for discrimination. The gender discrimination issue is very topical in Ghana where women are openly discriminated against on a variety of issues. Some challenges that women face in some towns and villages in Ghana include the following:
-They are not allowed to own or acquire critical assets such as land, houses or even engage in some income generating activities.
-The issue of male dominance prevents the women from being involved in decision making in the household on issues which affect them directly
-Girls are discriminated against in the area of education and skills development favouring the male child instead.
All these challenges above culminate in young girls who grow up vulnerable, uneducated and are virtually dependent on their male counterparts. This, in my view is mostly evident in the three northern regions in Ghana and can hardly be seen elsewhere in the country. This makes them susceptible to all forms of abuse resulting in some becoming teenage mothers, thereby exacerbating the teenage pregnancy menace inevitably perpetuating the poverty cycle. The employability of these women in society is also limited to the informal sector which puts a limit on their ability to earn and make significant contributions to the household budget. In my opinion, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection which has been recently established in 2013, with a primary mission to coordinate and ensure gender equality and equity has gone a long way to help reduce the levels of inequality in Ghana. Even though it is said above that male dominance prevents women from getting involved in decision making, it can be seen that recently, many women have assumed roles which men previously took over and in schools, an increased number of young girls are taking up leadership roles. The recent National Gender Policy (2015), with the theme “Mainstreaming Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment into Ghana’s Development Efforts” can be classified as a policy which has been put in place to eradicate these norms.
Natural and man-made disasters:
Natural disasters such as severe famine, bush/wild fires, floods, hurricanes (Hallegatte et al 2015) and man-made ones like ethnic conflicts and wars have wreak havoc on already struggling communities stunting their economic development. A flagship example of severe famine in Ghana was from 1979 to 1983 where due to the significant absence of rain, the entire country faced extreme hunger. Majority of people in the rural areas whose main economic activity was farming lost their livelihoods, plunging them deeper into poverty.
Another issue curtailing the development of some communities in Ghana is ethnic conflicts. Chieftaincy and land issues are predominantly the trigger factor for these conflicts. As a result of this buildings are burnt and destroyed, lives are lost, schools and hospitals are closed down and professionals like doctors, teachers, nurses, flee the communities. As a result of this unrest, investors are not willing to invest in these communities since their investments cannot be protected. Economic activity is markedly affected by these situations, deepening poverty.
Inadequate provision of social services:
Provision of social infrastructure and services help to facilitate development. A critical fight against poverty is the provision of education and a healthy labour force to drive socioeconomic growth (Addae-Korankye 2014). The absence of these critical social services compromises the fight against poverty. The latest Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 6) (GSS 2014a) reports that communities in Ghana where poverty is high also lack the much needed social infrastructure. The lack of education in a community affects their willingness to accept and adopt new scientific ways of improving their lives. It affects their ability to add value to their products and make them competitive in the global economy. These communities lose out on a number of opportunities and get exploited by others which aggravates their poverty situation. In terms of health, the lack of appropriate health services, increases the burden of disease and this adversely impacts people. From my personal standpoint, it is evident in Ghana that NGOs and other bilateral companies have gone a long way to aid the provision of a number of social services in these rural regions. The lack of resources to maintain the social services which have been provided for these areas is where the issue arises. In a recent article by Ghana Web, it was reported that approximately 100 desktop computers and other accessories were donated to Balobia Junior High School in the Kasena East assembly of the Upper East Region, by an old student with the wish to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning in his alma mater. These computers are yet to be put to use by the school authority due to the lack of electricity supply to a building earmarked for conversion to an IT laboratory. Another critical case study is the recent Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa. Although Ghana was not directly affected, due to the lack of the appropriate health infrastructure in those countries to handle the disease (Omoleke, Mohammed & Saidu 2016), the morbidity and mortality rates were very high. The number of productive hours lost to ailments and absenteeism were very significant and breadwinners of many households died, leading to further impoverishment. This is in sharp contrast to developed countries where the few cases that occurred were quickly contained, reducing the spread and its resultant effect on the populace.
Corruption:
Corruption is a big challenge globally and especially in Africa. The effect of corruption on society is daunting and as a concept, it deprives people of their resources resulting in dwindling the wealth of the community as a whole. This again affects the provision of the requisite infrastructure needed for the populace. Corruption undermines the economic reward and compensation due people. The cost of corruption in Ghana is estimated at about US$ 3 billion annually (http://citifmonline.com/2016/05/15/ghana-loses-3-billion-annually-in-corruption-imani/). Poor people are vulnerable and with limited options, therefore with the persistent of corruption in society, their poverty status is deepened and they become worse off. Although corruption is described above as a major cause of poverty in Ghana, in my view, it can also be classified as an effect of poverty. This is because, corruption is mostly only considered at the level of the government and other officials but on the other hand, since people are poverty stricken and are not able to make ends meet at the end of the day, they are forced to engage in corrupt practices like bribery.
Effects of poverty in Ghana
Lack of consistent income:
One of the direct effects of poverty is the fact that people do not have enough money to purchase the basic necessities of life. Every member of society should be able to meet their basic needs without necessarily depending on others. However, because of poverty, poor people are unable afford food, clothing, shelter, health care and security. Their standard of living is compromised and they are mostly unskilled causing their contribution to society to be classified as minimal. They have low purchasing power so the vibrancy of economic activity in their communities is low. Ghana currently has a Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme where extremely poor households are given monthly cash handouts. The aim is to alleviate short-term poverty and stimulate long-term human development (Handa et al 2013).
Hunger, malnutrition, ill-health and shorter life expectancy:
Hunger is also another significant consequence of poverty. Due to poverty, people cannot afford nutritious meals. This results in stunted growth, increased susceptibility to disease and reduced cognitive development which prevents the children from achieving their full potential. According to the “Cost of Hunger in Africa-Ghana” report (NDPC 2016), the cost of underweight due to undernutrition in 2012 was GH¢313.3 million. According to the Ghana MDGs report (GMDG 2015), the regions in Ghana with the highest poverty also have higher child mortality and maternal mortality rates.
Low productivity:
There is a relationship between poverty and labour productivity (Asenso-Okyere, Chiang, Thangata and Andam, 2012). As mentioned above, the absenteeism due to ill health and undernutrition in the poor makes them less productive. Less poor people tend to be more productive than people below the poverty line. In the short run, the level of productivity of an individual will be compromised when the person is hungry or undernourished. In the medium term, due to ailments, absenteeism, low concentration. It is significant that about 5.49 million people in Ghana’s labour force have their potential productivity affected by undernutrition (NDPC, 2016).
Illiteracy and lack of education:
A direct correlation can be drawn between a person’s academic performance and their background. Children who come from low income households are more likely to drop out of school than children who come from high income households (Sabates, Westbrook, Akyeampong & Hunt 2010). Children from low income households are not encouraged to go to school due to the need for them to help their parents on the farm or in other income generating ventures to support family. Ghana currently has the school feeding programme, where children in public primary schools are provided with a hot meal a day. It is observed that this programme has led to the high increase in enrolment which continues at the primary level since it is at this level that this intervention has been made. However, it is also noticed that this enrolment levels are not continuing into the junior high school. It can be deduced that this acts as a disincentive for the children as they are not provided with food at secondary level.
Migration:
Migration another noticeable consequence of poverty. Migration of people from rural areas to urban areas is a common phenomenon globally (WEF 2017). Migration can either be internal, international, voluntary or involuntary and can have economic, social and political impact on society. It has implications for housing, education and employment, health, transportation, security, and social cohesion (WEF 2017). Rural-urban migration has been a phenomenon in Ghana over the years (Boakye-Yiadom 2006). Ghana’s rural-urban migration is dominated by people moving from the northern part of the country to the south (Van der Geest 2011). There is also the movement of people from rural communities in the south to the cities. This movement is occasioned by a myriad of factors. Ranging from poverty and financial problems to resource endowments and environmental considerations (Van der Geest 2011; Boakye-Yiadom 2006).
Also, people migrate to urban centres because of the opportunities for self-development and economic growth. As noted by Obeng (2016), lack of job opportunities in the lesser endowed regions of Northern Ghana has led the youth to migrate to the south to seek better opportunities. Economic reasons are mostly stated by migrants as the reason for migration. Even though economic reasons are said to be the most common reason for migration by these young girls from the rural areas to the urban, in my opinion, the reasons for migration in Northern Ghana could be extended to female genital mutilation (FGM), early and forced marriages and sometimes, conflicts which arise frequently in the area. Majority of migrants believe that their over-all wellbeing has improved since they migrated to the city (Awumbila, Owusu, and Teye 2014). Existing literature also shows that although rural-urban migration results in some economic gains to the individual and his/her family and the rural community at large, there are other negative impacts of migration on poverty reduction (Siddiqui 2012).
Migration in Ghana is commonly linked with the head porter phenomenon whereby young girls from the Northern regions migrate to the south in search of lucrative jobs but end up as head porters in major markets. As head porters, they carry the goods which shoppers have purchased at a negotiated price within the market.
As part of my project, I carried out interviews with a group of female head porters at the Madina market in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. The market was chosen because it is undoubtedly one of the biggest markets in Accra (Greater Accra Region) with a sizeable number of porters plying their trade.
My findings indicated that they migrated from areas in the three Northern regions of Ghana. They hailed from towns like Daboya, Wa, Jirapa, Tamale and Bolgatanga just to name a few. Their ages ranged from as young as 12 years to as old as 39 years. Most of them had been in Accra for an average period of 3 years. Their working day starts from as early as 5am when the market women start arriving at the market and could extend up until 6pm averaging a working day of 12 hours. The women and girls had no real breaks and worked from Monday through Sunday. Their daily earnings ranged from GH¢4.0 (US$1.0) to GH¢40.0 (US$10.0) a day. However, on most days, they earn on average GH¢25.0 (US$6.25).
Most of them live in kiosks with migrant relatives who may have lived in the capital city longer than they had been. They intimated that they had no or little access to bathing and toilet facilities and had to queue for long hours to use public bathrooms or resort to open defaecation and bathing in open spaces at dawn to escape being seen by passers-by. Reasons given for moving to the big cities include;
– The need for more lucrative employment due to lack of employment in their various towns.
– Extreme hardship in the households from which they hailed due to the death of their parents or ill-health of their relatives.
– The need to continue with their education to enable them develop better skills in their bid to secure better jobs.
– Famine and harsh weather conditions which does not augur well for their farms and livestock leading to very difficult circumstances in the household.
Given all these trying circumstances, all the respondents expressed the strongest desire of returning back to their native towns and villages due to the harsh situations they had to face in the big city but refrained from doing so since their objectives had not been met and they were bound to be mocked by their peers and chastised by their families. They also complained about repeated ill-health and lack of security and protection from the rain, sun and bad weather as well as robbers who took away the little that they had acquired.
Their greatest desires were to be trained as dressmakers or hairdressers or to save enough resources to venture into food vending as a source of livelihood.
STRATEGIES FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Economic development:
describes the increase in the standard of living of a nation which can be linked to the alleviation of poverty in order to carry this out. Development brings about increased production, employment, consumption and incomes. There is a growing level of income inequality among the rich and the poor in Ghana and poverty can only be alleviated when every member of society benefits from the economic growth. Ghana’s poverty rate has declined from 52.6 percent in 1991 to 21.4 percent in 2012 due to economic development and for this trend to continue, it calls for concerted efforts at reducing inequality and improving access to opportunities for all Ghanaians (Molini & Paci 2015). As recorded from the recent State of the Nation address, the growth rate of the economy has increased from 3.6% in 2016 to 7.9% in 2017.
Modernisation of agriculture:
Ghana’s agriculture sector employs the largest share of the labour force but the sector also accommodates some of the highly unfortunate people among the population. The importance of the sector to national development is well known and has featured prominently in all the national development policy strategies like Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I), Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) and Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA I & II). However, the sector still remains largely subsistence and rain-fed. Provision of improved seeds, machinery, irrigation facilities, extension services and improved market access will go a long way to improve the living standards of the people within the sector. Recent developments like the 50% subsidy on fertilizer and improved inputs go a long way in helping to fight against poverty and rural urban migration.
Expansion of social infrastructure:
Provision of adequate social infrastructure like education and health facilities will help alleviate the prevalence of poverty. In Ghana, the National Health Insurance Scheme has been put in place by previous governments to provide free healthcare for the less privileged and this can be seen as an infrastructural development which has helped the Ghanaian economy. An educated population is more likely to adopt new technology to improve their work and expand their businesses since they will have higher literacy, vocational and technical skills to compete not only on the local labour market but also in the international labour market. This helps to improve the country’s competitiveness level in terms of export production and helps ameliorate the chances of people getting well-paying jobs. This consequently has a multiplied effect on the community. The current government of Ghana has increased the share of District Assemblies Common Fund to persons with disabilities from 2% to 3% which helps make healthcare more accessible to everyone in the society. A healthy and educated population are more likely to escape poverty than an unhealthy and uneducated population.
Conclusion
Poverty is multifaceted and intricately linked to development. A lot of effort has been put into the fight against poverty and this is reflected in the successes recorded so far. The causes and effects of poverty are general across the world. As mentioned in my investigation, the key causes of poverty include inequality and exclusion in society, inadequate social service provision and corruption. These result in effects on society such as low productivity, illiteracy and lack of education, hunger and malnutrition and the most significant of them all, rural-urban migration. Research has shown that rural urban migration is an effect of poverty which has an impact on the Ghanaian population as a whole. Arguably, in my view, even though it is an effect of significance as it takes a toll on the migrants and has become a growing phenomenon with many adverse effects, it may not be classified as the most significant because it only affects a fraction of the Ghanaian population. The fraction of the population which it affects are the migrants from the three northern regions, which represents just three out of the ten regions in Ghana. Therefore, the effect cannot be classified as widespread. As seen above in my write up, Efforts like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations are galvanising nations to eradicate extreme poverty and promote human development and a high level of effort has been aimed at poverty reduction in Ghana as well. Many different initiatives have been implemented to help fight this problem and although Ghana has made a number of gains, they have not been even across board which may lead to inequalities. The three (3) northern regions still have poverty figures above the national average. Factors like sustained economic growth, good governance and modernised agriculture which have been tried and tested should be pursued simultaneously to eliminate poverty in society.