- Says 40% of people trapped below poverty line
BY CHINYERE OBIORA – Former Head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Yemi Kale, says it is regrettable that Nigeria carries the distressing scar as the world’s poverty capital only second in line to India.
According to him, by emerging as the country with the second largest population of poor people globally, no fewer than 89 million Nigerians are currently living in abject poverty.
He said the frightening numbers represent about 40 percent of Nigeria’s population, which is larger than the total citizens of most countries across the world.
The former Statistician General, who delivered this grave assessment of the country’s economic path at The Platform, Nigeria’s Independence Day event in Lagos, with the theme “Rebuilding Our Nation”, noted that only India tops the country in the number of citizens trapped below the poverty threshold.
He further painted a grim picture of the situation saying, “The reality is stark. To grasp the magnitude of this number, we can consider that fewer than 20 of the world’s 195 recognised countries even have a population larger than just Nigeria’s estimated number of poor.
“And these dynamics are compounding. Together, these trends threaten the very promise of independence that every Nigerian should have the opportunity to thrive at home.
“So what went wrong? Well, there are many reasons, but a large part of it lies in policy missteps and costly delays in implementing needed reforms.”
Addressing issues around “Reforms and Resilience“, the Economist told participants at the event that years of delayed reforms and policy mistakes have unfortunately pushed millions into hardship with many households exposed to inflation and fiscal pressures.
The former NBS boss, who is currently the Group Chief Economist at Afreximbank, said though a welcome development, the restorative measures being taken by government now should have commenced more than ten years ago when there were manifest decline signals.
He lamented that past administrations’ failure to act promptly led to the erosion of investor confidence, and limited growth, while also weakening the economy’s ability to create jobs for the teeming population.
However, while acknowledging that the ongoing reforms are hurting and unpleasant, Kale said they are necessary to reposition the country on the path of economic recovery, adding, “There is really no credible alternative. The question is how to make the process as humane and well sequenced as possible”.
For him, going forward, it is important that the government combines reform measures with stronger social safety nets to ensure vulnerable Nigerians are shielded from preventable anguish and distress.
He maintained that crucial to the process of transforming Nigeria’s economic potential into shared prosperity lies in consistency, transparency, and integrity in implementing the current reforms across board with a grip on combating corruption decisively.
