WORLD BANK INDICTS JONATHAN’S GOVERNMENT, SAYS MASSIVE POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT KILLING NIGERIANS The number of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing significantly, the World Bank says. The number of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing significantly, revealing a perplexing contrast between the nation’s economic statistics on rapid economic growth and minimal welfare improvements for much of the population, the World Bank has said. “Poverty rates remain high in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas. These rates declined between 2003-2004 and 2009- 2010, although not nearly as fast as would be expected from the pace of economic growth in the country,” the World Bank said in its ‘Nigeria Economic Report’ May, 2013. “While the officially reported growth rates of GDP well exceed population growth in the country, the pace of poverty reduction does not, this implies that the number of poor Nigerians living below the poverty line has grown measurably,” the report stated. The World Bank said the first Nigeria Economic Report is designed to give some attention to longer term trends in the country, including the puzzle of why a decade of rapid GDP growth by official statistics, concentrated in the pro-poor areas of agriculture and trade, did not bring stronger welfare and employment benefits to the population. Aside from the increase in poverty, the organization said progress towards a number of the other Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria has also been disappointing, stating that Nigeria was ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index, as unemployment rates have been steadily increasing and younger Nigerians are encountering increasing difficulty in finding gainful employment
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:19:11 +0000
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