88 million Nigerians now living in extreme poverty

Over 1.1 million Nigerians have slipped into extreme poverty in just four months, TheCable can report.

This has brought the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty — or below $1.90 a day — to 88 million.

In June 2018, the Brookings Institution named Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world, with 86.9 million extremely poor people.

Nigeria overtook India as the world poverty capital, despite being six times smaller in population than the Asian country.

According to the World Poverty Clock, created by Vienna-based World Data Lab, 88,011,759 Nigerians are currently living in extreme poverty.

The World Bank, IMF, United Nations, and major development institutions across the world forecast that Nigeria will not hit the 2030 target for ending global poverty.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also suggests that West Africa, primarily, Nigeria will host 40 percent of the world’s poorest people by 2030.

According to the World Poverty Clock, “the outlook for poverty alleviation in Nigeria is currently weak,” with nearly six people slipping into extreme poverty every minute.

“Nevertheless, the overall effect will be muted; by 2030 we estimate the percentage of Nigeria’spopulation living in extreme poverty will increase from 44.2% to 45.5%, representing a total of some 120 million people living under $1.90 per day.”

Brookings had said earlier in the year that “extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall”.

“In fact, by the end of 2018 in Africa as a whole, there will probably be about 3.2 million more people living in extreme poverty than there are today.”

Oby Ezekwesili, one of the major oppositions to President Muhammadu Buhari, has said if she is elected as president, she will bring a minimum of 80 million Nigerians out of poverty.