President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria
105 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty – World Poverty Clock Report
Nigeria with limited social safety nets, accounts for an estimated 105 million people that struggle to survive on an average of $1.90 a day or less per person – the international measure for extreme poverty, the World Poverty Clock said. The figure represents 50 percent of the country’s estimated population of about 205 million.
The country’s economy which shrank 6.1% YOY in the second quarter of 2020 compared to a 1.9% growth in the prior period is largely down to the slowdown in economic activity after the country resorted to a lockdown back in April to curb the spread of the virus.
The report also shows on further analysis, that men in Nigeria were extremely poor compared to their female counterparts as 53,133,553 million men are living below the poverty threshold while 51,564,303 women are also extremely poor.
The World Poverty Clock concludes that Nigeria falls short of its target escape rate with -4.4 people escaping poverty per second.
Nigeria now stands at 15 percent of the total number of people living in extreme poverty world-wide based on the current analysis, even as the World Bank projects that the global extreme poverty is expected to rise in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.
The Nigerian government needs to adjust their social protection systems and programs to prepare for future shocks by expanding social protection programs for financial sustainability, otherwise the ongoing Covid-19 crisis will continue to spur one of the largest increases in extreme poverty
