About 71 million Nigerians Are Facing Extreme Poverty – Expert
Professor Sulaiman Adesina Yusuf of the department of Agric Economics, University of Ibadan, said about 70,923,610 Nigerians are facing extreme poverty.
Prof Yusuf made this disclosure yesterday in Abuja during a one-day public lecture organised by the Federal Cares Unit of the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.
The theme of the lecture was “Social Protection in Nigeria: The Journey so Far.
He said that Nigeria ranks 163 of 191 countries in human development index (HDI), while the country ranks 109 out of 125 countries in 2023 on global hunger index.
It would be recalled that the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS), had earlier in its report said over 133 million Nigerians are multidimensionally poor.
Prof. Yusuf said this is not only unacceptable for a country that hopes to compete at the global stage, but also calls for concern for policy makers.
While acknowledging efforts made by successive governments in the country to fund intervention programmes, he said the major challenge has been the issue of political will on the part of government to fully fund the programme.
He called for the passage of the social protection bill into law, for governmen to generate the political commitment for Social protection at the Federal and state levels as well as realign the allocation of resources needed to scale up social protection.
Earlier, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, commended the good work NG-CARES is doing to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
He said the present administration was very passionate about poverty alleviation which is why, according to him, President Tinubu a few weeks ago, directed a wholesale review of the national social protection scheme.
According to him, “Much as you think we have achieved progress, there’s a lot that remains to be done.”
He promised that the federal government will do all within its power and available resources to ensure that the sad tales of poverty being told of Nigeria today was reversed.
source: financialtrust.com.ng
