Poverty in Nigeria is rising, with 112 million (60.9% of the 163 million population poor, despite 7.6 gross domestic product GDP) growth recorded in Africa’s second largest economy in 2011, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
The percentage of Nigerians living in abject poverty – those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing – rose to 60.9 percent in 2010, compared with 54.7 percent in 2004, the bureau said.
Although Nigeria’s economy is projected to continue growing, poverty is likely to get worse, as the gap between rich and poor continues to widen.
“It remains a paradox … that despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year,” Yemi Kale, the Statistician-General of the Federation, said at a news conference while presenting the “Nigeria Poverty Profile Report 2010’’.
“NBS estimates that this trend may have increased further in 2011 if the potential positive impacts of several anti-poverty and employment generation intervention programmes are not taken into account,” Kale said.
He said the figure was higher than the 54 per cent recorded in 2004, and that the North-West and North- East geo-political zones recorded the highest poverty rates in the country with 77.7 per cent and 76.3 per cent respectively.
Kale said the South-West geo-political zone recorded the lowest poverty levels with 59.1 per cent.
He said that among the states from the North-West and North- East geo-political zones, Sokoto had the highest poverty rate with 86.4 per cent in 2010 against 95 per cent recorded by Jigawa in 2004.
The Statistician-General said Niger had the lowest with 43.6 per cent in 2010 against 22 per cent recorded by Anambra in 2004.
He said that Nigerians, who had minimal standards of food, clothing, healthcare and shelter, stood at 60.9 per cent in 2010 as against 54.7 per cent recorded in 2004.
“Among the geo-political zones, the North-West and North-East recorded the highest rates at 70 per cent and 69 per cent respectively, while the South-West had the least at 49.8 per cent.
“Sokoto had the highest at 81.2 per cent, while Niger had the least at 33.8 per cent during the review period.’’
Kale said that 93.9 per cent of Nigerians considered themselves to be poor in 2010 against 75.5 per cent recorded in 2004.
He said the FCT with 97.9 per cent, recorded the highest number of people, who considered themselves to be poor, while Kaduna with 90.50 per cent, recorded the least number of people.
The Statistician-General said the income inequality in the country, as measured by the Gini-Coefficient rose from 0.429 in 2004 to 0.447 in 2010.
The Harmonised Nigeria Living Standard Survey was produced by the NBS in collaboration with the World Bank, Department for International Development and UNICEF.
Corruption is rife in Nigeria and for decades, politicians have focused on milking cash from crude oil exports, which average more than 2 million barrels per day, rather than developing infrastructure and creating jobs for locals.
Despite holding the world’s seventh largest gas reserves, which could be used to generate power, Nigeria only produces enough electricity to power a medium-sized European city.
More than half of the country’s 160 million inhabitants live without electricity, while the rest have to rely on expensive generators run on diesel supplies controlled by a small and powerful cartel of importers.
Via Business Day
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