Nigeria: A poverty-ravaged giant of Africa  

When I read Obadiah Mailafia’s article on ‘Poverty capital of the world’, published on Monday, November 11, 2019, in the Nigerian Tribune,  again, the still small voice within me whispered that our country indeed needs urgent intervention from God and the present government to fix the rots in our system.

Nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of Africa, has 94.5 million of the estimated 200 million people living below the poverty line of $1.90 or N684 per day. It is a pity that our country is one of the highest in the poverty ravaged countries in the world.

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Sokoto State comes top here as the National Bureau of Statistics says the state has 81.1 per cent of its population, mostly women living below the poverty line. Gombe and Adamawa are among the other states in the North trailing behind in this poverty issue, while states in South-West,  South-East and South-South seem to be doing well.

From 1960 till date, most of our leaders were from the core North and yet, there is endemic poverty in the northern part of the country, even as some northerners think the presidency is their birthright.

Muhammadu Buhari, our beloved president has promised to lift 10 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. Fantastic on paper, but the world is watching to see how this will play out in the coming years ahead. Lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty with inadequate social amenities sounds like an unrealistic dream to me.

Emmanuel Udom,

Lagos.

Nigerian Tribune