Much as we want to blame the rich for not doing enough to assist the poor, we must also lay part of the blame on the doorsteps of the poor.
Let me narrate just two personal experiences to support the above claim.
My neighbor is a philanthropist who gathers destitutes, especially women, and doles out money to them every Friday. About a hundred of them come every Friday as early as possible to collect the handouts. As there was no shade in the philanthropist's house, they soon found shelter under a tree in front of my house. About thirty to fifty of them would converge in front of my house. Sometimes I have to wait for them to clear before I could drive into my house. If this doesn't constitute a nuisance, then I'm a monkey's uncle, yet I never sent them away because I didn't want to be harsh. In addition, I had to condone constant begging from them every time I was going in or out of my house. It was an eyesore: women and children spending almost the whole day there, eating food and doing whatever they felt like doing, yet I persevered. And they deprived me of enjoying the tree shed.
Then, gradually, I began to notice some small items disappearing within my compound. A bar of soap placed on the birth room window began to disappear. Some clothes placed on the clothesline to dry developed wings and flew away.
The last straw that broke the camel's back occurred yesterday. I opened my parlour door to come out only to find about six of them within my compound. They had opened the gate and spread mats under a tree, adjacent to my car port and were relaxing with their children without a care in the world! So, because I tolerated them without sending them away, they had the audacity to actually come inside my gate and make themselves at home! Oh my...
My immediate thoughts were what if they had Coronavirus?
The second episode was a young Almajiri I engaged who washed our dishes and disposed the refuse in the house, at a fee, including feeding. Soon, he grew big headed and started bringing in his boys, who helped him do the chores. Sometimes as many as five of them would crowd into my house to assist him. Whenever he was unable to come, he would send some of them. Soon, my house began to turn into Almajiri rendezvous. And my spoons and other small stuff were, gradually, being depleted. Some of them even began to use the outer toilet. The day I blew my top was when one of them came in with a lot of clothes and started washing them, even though we had to buy water at the time, as, for a long time, there was no water from the state water board.
So, you see, the problem is not just from the well-to-do, but from the needy, as well. It's the Nigerian factor.