Nigeria may be home to a quarter of the world’s population of poor people in the next ten years if viable economic policies are not put in place, the World Bank said on Monday.
“Under a business-as-usual scenario, where Nigeria maintains the current pace of growth and employment levels, by 2030 the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty could increase by more than 30 million,” the bank said in its Nigeria Economic Update report.
Nigeria currently has the largest population of poor people in the world, overtaking India (despite having population five times the size of Nigeria’s) in early 2018, according to Brookings Institution.
“At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million,” Brookings Institution in a report published in June 2018.
“What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.” More than a year later, the World Bank warned that Africa’s largest economy faces a “significant” cost if the government does not take necessary steps.
Written By Adeluwoye Comfort Eniola Obinwannem News
