The recent disclosure by the Country Director of Oxfam international in Nigeria, Mr. Constant Tchona, that no fewer than 94,470,535 people in Nigeria currently live below extreme poverty line, greatly contrasts the pronounced intention by the Federal government to lift One Hundred Million people out of poverty in the next ten years.
Nigeria’s population is currently put at 200,963,599 people and going by this report, close to half of the population of Nigerian people are living below the benchmark of N684 per day.
Oxfam international being a charity and non-profit group with a focus on the alleviation of global poverty by this report, cannot be accused of any political bias. It is a sincere and honest overview of the current living standard in Nigeria.
This report came just as President Buhari admitted in his address at the 25th Nigeria Economic Summit (NES) that, Nigeria’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few people. This means that the few that represent just one percent of the population are having in their custody, over ninety percent of the country’s wealth, leaving about one percent of the wealth to the 90% of the population.
In April 2019, the number of people in this extreme poverty bracket was put at 91,501,377 and by the end of September, the figure had jumped to the current 94,470,535. This means that, within the space of 5 months, 2,969,158 people had slipped into extreme poverty, a figure that has been compared to the population of Gambia and Cape Verde.
The report progresses from that of last year, where Nigeria was declared to have taken over from India as world poverty capital. It was declared at that time that, Nigeria was home to an estimated 87million people living in extreme poverty.
This is a serious cause for worry by Government at all levels. It is also an indictment on Federal Government’s professed commitment to lift Hundred Million people out of poverty in the next ten years. If within 5 months, close to three million people had been added to the extreme poverty bracket, it means that the pronouncement by government to take out at least ten million people out of poverty within this year is nothing but a farce.
It must be stated for emphasis that, government exists for the purpose of security and welfare of the citizens. If the standard of living of the people for whom government has the responsibility to enhance keeps nose diving, it becomes clear that government has failed in that all important responsibility.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which succeeded Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015, was adopted by all United Nations member states as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. By this Oxfam report on the rate of poverty, “Nigeria is not only off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals but many now believe that up to 25 percent of the world’s extreme poor will live in Nigeria by 2030”. This is surely not a compliment. It should be of concern to our decision makers.
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