The World Bank report has shown that the Northern region accounted for 87 percent of all the poor people in Nigeria in 2016.
In the report titled “Advanced social protection in a dynamic Nigeria’, released in January 2020, the World Bank said the negative impact of conflicts and natural disasters as well as the non-implementation of social protection measures by Governors of the region were largely the causes of the high poverty ratio in the North.
“Nigeria experiences high inequality along geographic lines, with poverty mostly concentrated in the North and rural areas.
“Poverty in the northern regions of the country has been increasing, especially in the North-West zone.
“Almost half of all the poor lived in the North-West and the North account for 87 percent of all the poor in the country in 2016.”
“Poverty rates in the southern zones were around 12 percent with little variation across zones. The South-South zone saw the most significant drop in poverty from 2011-2016.
“Poverty was significantly higher in rural areas of the country in 2016. An estimated 64 percent of all poor lived in rural areas and 52 percent of the rural population lived below the poverty line in 2016. In contrast, the poverty rate in urban areas remained stable at 16 percent between 2011 and 2016.”
The World Bank also noted that the northern region is lagging behind the Southern region in the human capital outcome. The World Bank also identified weak governance, lack of basic infrastructure, poor quality of education, and poor social service delivery as some of the reasons for the high level of poverty in Nigeria.
Stats Don’t Lie
In June 2018, a report by the World Poverty Clock revealed that Nigeria had overtaken India as the top-tier country with a cosmic the community of poor people on the planet.
Also in July of the same year, a report by the UNDP said that 98 million Nigerians were ‘’multi-dimensionally poor’’ as many lacked access to good healthcare and lived in squalid conditions. The UNDP report also said only 46 percent of Nigerians are poor when poverty is sized by income, more than 50 percent of citizens adding that Nigeria contributed 15.7 percent to the global poverty rate.
FG Disagrees
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari, however, disagreed with many of the reports that branded Nigeria as the poverty capital of the World. The Federal insisted that the World Poverty Clock was unable to prove where it drew its sample from.
The Buhari led government will rather insist that it had lifted more than five million Nigerians out of poverty through its social intervention programs.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha had a function disclosed that the social investment program has created two million direct and indirect jobs.
He said:
‘’One of the key components of the NSIP is the N-Power program and its sub-components have led to the creation of job opportunities in different sectors of the economy for young people.
‘’For example, in the past three years, the program has yielded over two million direct and indirect employment opportunities and has lifted over five million Nigerians out of extreme poverty.’’
