NIGERIA, the self acclaimed ‘Giant of Africa’ is currently having an increasing number of its impoverished citizens helplessly pushing the poverty index to an alarming level. A report from World Bank showed that about 2,969,158 Nigerians entered into extreme poverty between April and October 2019. It noted that about 94,470,535 Nigerians live below the extreme poverty line. No wonder, Nigeria is referred as to poverty capital of the world.
NIGERIANS are hungry because cost of living has gone beyond the power of the middle class, salaries are no longer forthcoming and where they are forthcoming, cannot meet people’s basic needs. Inflation has reduce the value and the purchasing power of the people away.
NIGERIA occupied 10th position in the 2020 Global Hunger Index where countries like Haiti, Chad and Afghanistan featured prominently among the 10 hungriest countries.
COMPOUNDING poverty woes in the country is that of the environment that is no longer friendly for farming as insecurity enveloped the country, therefore, the country could not generate enough money that could be distributed to its citizenry. The activities of bandits, kidnappers in the country compound the rising level of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria. Bandits and kidnappers activities have greatly affected the level of food production, these have taken foodstuffs prices beyond the reach of citizens, thereby making Nigerians to be poorer.
ADDING to this, delay in the payment of salaries in some states is preventing the informal sectors from accessing capital due to low patronage, this has escalate the level of unemployment and poverty in the land.
THE World Bank disclosure that its estimates showed that between 15 to 20 million Nigerians would join the poverty rank in 2022, also with the ongoing kidnapping and insurgency in the country, there is a call for prompt and urgent action.
THE increasing poverty level in Nigeria is a time bomb, if allowed to explode, the effects will be devastating and what the country is presently experiencing will be a child’s play if not urgently addressed. For a country that is so richly blessed, Nigeria’s poverty level is an embarrassment. As the largest producer of petroleum in Africa and seventh in the world, Nigeria has no business hobnobbing with poverty.
WHILE other oil producing countries in the world are daily using proceeds from petroleum to transform their infrastructures and better the lives of their people, the reverse is the case in Nigeria.
THEREFORE, it is now time for the government to come up with fresh ideas that can take Nigerians out of poverty. Government should ensure that there is conducive environment for commerce to thrive, farming and industrial growth should be funded and sustained.
THE present onslaughts against bandits and kidnappers should be sustained, so that, farming business could strive in the country. With a frightening increase in the over 200 million people, half of whom are irredeemably poor, reverting back to the land to cultivate will take many out of poverty.
SO, government must find lasting solution to the return of farmers back to farms. Due to the nationwide turmoil, the food situation is deteriorating rapidly, millions of Nigerians cannot feed again as prices soar and inflation reduces disposable income. Something urgent must be done to address the high inflation that has reduced incomes of people to nothing in the country.
FINALLY, monetary policies that are hampering development must also be revisited. Government should tackle unemployment by creating enabling environment for job creation. The statistics on unemployment in Nigeria is scaring, this must be addressed urgently.