"We are told that the country is rich in oil. But I don't see that wealth in my daily life. Look at Pointe-Noire, formerly nicknamed as Ponton la Belle [Beautiful Pointe-Noire]. Today, the city is unrecognisable. Around the Grand Marche, the main roads are potholed, and when it rains, the streets get flooded, making it almost impossible to drive."
"I am still underhoused at my age and have no prospects for the future. Without a job, I can't plan ahead. I'm just trying to survive. For many young Congolese, daily life is a paradox: though they live in a resource-rich country – the third largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and a producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – nearly half the population live below the poverty line."
Republic of Congo, the third largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, faces a stark paradox: despite significant natural resource wealth, nearly half its population lives below the poverty line, with 60 percent under age 25. In economic capital Pointe-Noire, infrastructure deteriorates with potholed roads and flooding, while educated young people struggle to find employment. Street vendor Romain Tchicaya holds a management degree but sells unregulated medicines as prices rise and formal jobs disappear. Similarly, Brice Makaya, with a computer science degree, remains unemployed and homeless, living outside a church. These educated youth represent widespread joblessness in a resource-rich nation where oil wealth fails to translate into economic opportunity or improved living conditions for ordinary citizens.
#oil-wealth-inequality #youth-unemployment #poverty-in-resource-rich-nations #informal-economy #infrastructure-decline
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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