AfDB President, Adesina Expresses Concerns Over Nigeria’s Poverty Level

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr Akinwunmi Adesina has expressed serious concerns over the rising poverty levels in Nigeria.

Adesina, who spoke in Abuja at the 90th birthday lecture of former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), stressed that addressing the poverty level is key to Nigeria becoming a global player and leading the African continent.

He noted that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in 2022 estimated that 63 per cent of persons living within Nigeria plus 133 million people at the time, are multi-dimensionally poor, adding that the NBS report also stated that over half of the population of Nigeria cook with charcoal wood, other than clean out energy.

Adesina said that high deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, health care, food security, and housing poverty, stressing that it is particularly extreme in rural areas where millions of people have been forgotten and abandoned.

Adesina said; “The gravity of the situation is even worse in northern Nigeria. As we speak today, 65% of the poor, that’s 86 million people live in northern Nigeria while 35% nearly 47 million live in the South.”

He noted that the level of poverty has led to crimes and a general fall in the standards of living among Nigerians, saying that the level of sufferings, helplessness, and abandonment are prevalent in our hope and drowning communities and people in despair as economic activities plummet.

In the words of Adesina; “Consequently, the criminal economy is ending the real economy of Nigeria. To address the situation, urgent and comprehensive efforts are needed to restore security, law and order to protect lives, property, and farmlands and to restore normalcy to traumatized zones.

“Towns, villages, and communities to stabilize and restore economic fortunes, education, health, social protection and jobs for youth programs must be prioritized simultaneously,” he said.

Adesina also said that based on World Bank report, inflation has badly affected 129 million Nigerians that have been thrown into poverty, adding that food inflation in Nigeria is around 40 percent thereby pushing the cost of basic items beyond the reach of millions of Nigeria.

He noted that with insecurity in some of the country’s food belts affecting the prices of commodities, there is the need for the government to fight insecurity.

Adesina said; “Decisive and sustained efforts are needed to end insecurity, especially to save vast areas of the foot belts of Nigeria in the North West, North East and Middle Belt. The deployment of digital surveillance tools, artificial intelligence, and satellite imagery needs to be increasingly used to track and provide intelligence.

“The development and the deployment of farm production protection guards and safe food transport corridors are worth developing a more secure Nigeria will be a more food secure Nigeria,” the AfDB boss said.