Nigeria’s deepening poverty crisis

FILE: Poverty

By

Punch Editorial Board

POVERTY in Nigeria is an everyday reality that grips millions of lives across the country. Once regarded as Africa’s sleeping giant, Nigeria has descended into a prolonged economic and social crisis.

In 2018, it overtook India as the world’s poverty capital, with 86.7 million people living in extreme poverty.

By 2022, the situation had worsened, as a joint report by the National Bureau of Statistics and international development partners revealed that 133 million Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty, deprived of basic needs like food, education, clean water, and healthcare.

The situation deteriorated further in 2024, when the World Bank reported that an additional seven million Nigerians fell into poverty following the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira under President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms.

While these policies were touted as necessary for fiscal sustainability, they were implemented without adequate social buffers, deepening the suffering of ordinary citizens.

Voices of concern have come not just from international agencies but from prominent Nigerians as well. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election and a former governor of Anambra State, issued a sobering warning during a lecture at the Johns Hopkins University, United States.

Drawing comparisons with China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, Obi lamented that while these countries have advanced significantly over the past three decades, Nigeria has, by contrast, regressed.

Instead of addressing the facts, some government officials, including Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, criticised Obi for what they called negative portrayals of Nigeria on the global stage.

Yet, Obi merely echoed a reality that has been repeatedly confirmed by multilateral institutions and by daily life on Nigeria’s streets.

The numbers speak for themselves. According to the World Bank, the international poverty line by purchasing power parity stands at $2.15 per day, which in the naira translates to about N3,495 daily or N102,248 per month.

Nigeria’s minimum wage of N70,000 does not meet this standard, meaning that even those who are formally employed live below the poverty threshold.

The World Bank data reveals that more than 75 per cent of Nigeria’s rural population and over 40 per cent of those in urban areas live in poverty. Inflation remains dangerously high at over 24 per cent, further eroding the value of earnings and savings.

Akinwunmi Adesina, the outgoing President of the African Development Bank and a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, added to the growing chorus of alarm.

At a recent event in Lagos, he warned that Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 1960, the year the country gained independence.

He revealed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita has dropped to $824, a stark contrast to the $1,847 recorded at independence.

Adesina called for a complete overhaul of Nigeria’s economic model, including universal access to electricity, world-class infrastructure, accelerated industrialisation, and innovation-driven growth.

He stressed that agriculture, if modernised and made competitive, could be Nigeria’s strongest weapon in the fight against poverty.

The human toll of poverty in Nigeria is harrowing. Malnutrition and hunger are widespread, with more than 25 million people facing food insecurity according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Nigeria now has the second-highest number of stunted children in the world, with 37 per cent of children under five suffering from chronic malnutrition. Public health remains a national emergency.

The WHO reports that Nigeria accounts for 28 per cent of all maternal deaths worldwide. Preventable diseases such as malaria, cholera, and typhoid continue to claim thousands of lives annually because most families cannot afford medical treatment.

Education is another casualty of poverty. Nigeria has more than 20 million out-of-school children, the highest number globally according to UNESCO.

Many of these children are forced into child labour or early marriage, perpetuating a cycle of deprivation that spans generations. Meanwhile, over three million Nigerians are internally displaced due to a combination of poverty, conflict, and climate-related pressures.

These grim statistics are not abstractions; they translate into daily despair, from overcrowded slums in Lagos and Port Harcourt to hunger-stricken villages in the North. They are visible in the rising tide of crime, kidnapping, and insecurity, as jobless youths turn to desperate measures for survival. Terrorist groups, bandits, pirates, and separatists have found fertile ground in Nigeria’s economic disarray, spreading fear and eroding national unity.

Yet despite these dire warnings, the government continues to respond with token gestures. Rice handouts, cash transfers, and short-term “empowerment” schemes have become substitutes for real policy.

These actions not only fail to address the root causes of poverty but also insult the intelligence and dignity of the Nigerian people.

The situation is worsened by a political class that lives in luxury while dismissing the plight of the masses.

Nigeria’s poverty crisis has become politicised, and those who speak the truth are often gaslighted or attacked.

Comparisons with other countries underscore the poor choices made. Egypt phased out fuel subsidies gradually, cushioning the economic impact on citizens. In Nigeria, however, these policies were implemented abruptly, exacerbating hardship.

The power sector is in a shambles, with only 4,000 megawatts of electricity available for a population of over 230 million.

Access to healthcare is limited, and the country’s road and digital infrastructure are grossly inadequate. Though technological advancement has improved lives globally, it remains largely out of reach for most Nigerians due to affordability and access constraints.

What Nigeria needs now is not political theatre but sound governance. The path forward begins with implementing true fiscal federalism, which would allow regions to control their resources and spur localised development.

Economic diversification is essential, with a focus on industrialisation, a thriving digital economy, and innovation ecosystems that can generate jobs.

Commercial agriculture must be revitalised, with expanded access to low-interest credit for farmers and an end to the $6 billion annual food import bill that undermines local production.

Public health can be transformed by extending the National Health Insurance Scheme beyond its current 5.0 per cent coverage.

Reviving school feeding programmes would help address malnutrition while increasing school attendance and retention rates.

Infrastructure must be expanded, not just in cities, but across rural Nigeria, to connect producers to markets and reduce regional inequality.

Crucially, corruption must be fought with unrelenting determination. Transparency tools such as open treasury portals and civil society monitoring should become standard practice.

Security reforms are urgent, and the government must seek international partnerships to combat terrorism and restore order.

As Nigerians continue to flee the country in search of better opportunities abroad, reversing brain drain must also become a strategic priority.

Tinubu’s “Nigeria First” policy is a promising slogan, but it must be backed by coherent planning, competent implementation, and measurable outcomes.

The National Assembly must do more than rubber-stamp executive decisions; it must take its oversight role seriously and help drive solutions to Nigeria’s poverty crisis.

Punch Editorial Board

Punch Nigeria Limited