Oil-rich Nigeria outstrips India as country with most people in poverty
NIGERIA - Nine out of 10 of the world’s poorest people will live in Africa within 12 years, say experts from Brookings Institution
Nigeria, one of Africa’s two wealthiest economies, has overtaken India as home to the world’s greatest concentration of extreme poverty, amid warnings that the continent will host nine out of 10 of the world’s poorest people within 12 years. The claim comes as concerns mount that the growth in poverty and in Africa in particular is outpacing efforts to eradicate it. It was made in a recent paper for the Brookings Institution thinktank, by three experts associated with the World Poverty Clock launched in 2017 to track trends in poverty reduction. According to the authors, energy-rich Nigeria overtook India in May to become the country with the world’s highest number of people 87 million living in extreme poverty, in comparison with India’s 73 million people. The report says 14 of the 18 countries in the world where the number of people in extreme poverty is rising are in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, currently ranked third, is also expected to overtake India soon. Previously the ambition of eradicating extreme poverty the first of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals, adopted by world leaders at a historic summit in September 2015 had been lauded as a success story. Trajectories for poverty in African countries have already been raising concerns among policymakers over issues as diverse as stability and security, and migration trends, already a serious concern in Europe. Inevitably the claims have prompted sharp differences of opinion in Nigeria, where assessing poverty figures is a political issue. In a hardhitting editorial last week, the Punch daily newspaper noted the rise in poverty since 2010. “For a country that is so richly blessed, Nigeria’s poverty narrative is an embarrassment to both the citizens and outsiders.” However, the Brookings report has not come as a surprise to keen observers of events in Nigeria after the World Bank had earlier warned of growing poverty in the country. “Back in February, the African Development Bank had said that 152 million Nigerians, representing almost 80% of the country’s estimated 193.3 million population, lived on less than $2 per day.” However, Nigeria’s trade, industry and investment minister, Okechukwu Enelamah, suggested the figures reflected a period when Nigeria was in recession. “I think first we need to understand … there are reports that are lagging in indicators, which means people are reporting on history,” he said, adding that he hoped Nigeria’s economic policies would lead to a reduction in poverty. The figures, say the report’s authors, mark a profound change in the pervading narrative of global poverty and where it is concentrated throwing up challenges for the international community. They show the number of extreme poor in India is declining at a rate of about 44 people a minute, compared with Nigeria, where it has been rising by six people a minute. (The Guardian)