The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that four out of every 10 Nigerians are poor. The bureau gave this hint in the executive summary of its ‘2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria’ report published on Monday. This implies that over 82.9 million Nigerians are considered poor by national standards.
By global standards, this means that this category of vulnerable people live on less than $1. 90 per day Dear valued readers, subscribe to the Daily Trust e-paper to continue enjoying our diet of authoritative news. Kindly subscribe here The NBS report summary further showed that on average, four out of 10 individuals in Nigeria has real per capita expenditures below N137,430 per year.
The bureau reported that the number excluded the state of Borno, explaining that while the report included households from Borno, that sample was not representative of the whole state since only households from “accessible” (safe to visit, areas only) were interviewed. advertisement “Thus, the Borno sample is considered non-random and non-representative,” the NBS stated.
Daily Trust observed that the top three states with highest poverty rates included Sokoto (87.73 percent, Taraba (87.72 ) percent and Jigawa (87.02 percent). The top three states with least poverty rates included Lagos (4.5 percent), Delta (6.0 percent) and Osun (8.5 percent). The NBS hinted that the Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria full report would be published at a later date.
Meanwhile, the World Bank had last December in its ‘2019 Nigeria Economic Update’ Report, warned the Nigerian authorities that the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty may increase by more than 30 million by 2030. The Breton Wood institution warned that Nigeria would be home to 25 percent of the world’s destitute people if the government fails to revive economic growth and create jobs.
As a remedial strategy to reduce the poverty level in the country, the bank urged the present administration to increase domestic revenue, remove trade restrictions and fuel subsidies and improve the predictability of economic policy. In another report titled, ‘2019 Nigeria Economic Update Report’ published early December last year, the bank cautioned “Economic and demographic projections highlight the urgent need for reform “With population growth (estimated at 2. 6 per cent) outpacing economic growth in a context of weak job creation, per capita income is falling. Today, an estimated 100 million Nigerians live on less than $1. 90 per day.”
