Half of Nigeria’s Population Live in Poverty – World Bank
The World Bank has revealed that more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty.
In its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report, ‘Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,’ the World Bank said about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty.
The Washington-based institution also said that productive jobs need to be created to reduce poverty.
“Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria,” the World Bank said.
“More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power brought about by inflation.
“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 per cent to 56.0 per cent.
“Combined with population growth, this means that some 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016.
“The COVID-19 pandemic compounded this drop in economic activity. Moreover, growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power.”
The World Bank also said poverty reflects the non-inclusive structure of growth.
