World Bank’s economists, Jonathan Lain and Jakob Engel, have said rising inflation, persistent population growth, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine are threatening Nigeria’s poverty reduction aspiration.
The economists, who stated this yesterday in a post on the bank’s blog, said the development constitutes a threat to the country’s quest to lift its citizenry from poverty by 2030.
“Nigeria’s aspiration to lift all of its people out of poverty by 2030 presents a serious challenge. Even before COVID-19, four in 10 Nigerians lived below the national poverty line – some 80 million people.
“The global pandemic, rising inflation, and ongoing uncertainty related to the war in Ukraine – combined with relentless population growth – have made Nigeria’s poverty-reduction goals more challenging than ever”, the post stated in part.
Last June, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the National Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
This, he said, re-echoes his commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, with a well-researched framework for implementation and funding.
The President was quoted in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, saying, “If India can lift 271 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016, Nigeria can surely lift 100 million out of poverty in 10 years.
“Fortunately, we have already started but we need to unlock the challenges of slow implementation, inappropriate targeting and absence of adequate resources”, he said.
However, an Economist for the Middle East and North Africa region’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Group, Tara Vishwanath, described the goal of the Nigerian President to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years as ambitious.
She said the ambitious goal could only be feasible if certain swift policies were put in place to provide opportunities in the labour market and boost investors’ confidence.
In its ‘A Better Future for All Nigerians: 2022 Nigeria Poverty Assessment’ report, the World Bank said that poverty reduction stagnated since 2015, with more Nigerians falling below the poverty line over the years.
This means that since Buhari was first elected into the office of president of Nigeria in 2015, there has been no improvement in the poverty crisis in the country.
The Washington-based bank added that the number of poor Nigerians is projected to hit 95.1 million in 2022.
The World Bank also warned that many non-poor Nigerians are only one small shock away from falling into poverty.
According to the lender bank, such a shock can be induced by the issues of climate or conflict, which could further threaten Nigeria’s poverty reduction efforts.