Poverty in Nigeria
[3] For a country with massive wealth and a huge population to support commerce, a well-developed economy, and plenty of natural resources such as oil,[4] the level of poverty remains unacceptable.
According to a 2018 report by the World Bank, almost half the population is living below the international poverty line ($2 per day), and unemployment peaked at 23.1%.
[1] Following the oil price collapse in 2014–2016, combined with negative production shocks, the GDP growth rate dropped to 2.7% in 2015.
[10] However, these programs have largely failed to overcome the three reasons[11] for this persistent poverty: income inequality, ethnic conflict, and political instability with corruption.
The impact of COVID-19 has been disastrous to the economy with inflation on food items on the rise, markets were disrupted by the increase in prices of things and purchasing power.
[15][17] This incongruence is compounded by the fact that oil revenue is poorly distributed among the population, with higher government spending in urban areas than rurally.
Only the places striving with economic activity and are very capital-intensive, possess law firms, small local businesses, and the governing powers.
[note 1] With the return to civilian rule in 1999, militants from religious and ethnic groups have become markedly more violent.
[22][23] Civil unrest might also have contributed to the adoption of populist policy measures which work in the short-run, but impede poverty alleviation efforts.
Poverty by ZoneThe people living in the Northern region and rural areas of Nigeria were confirmed to be the poorest according to research.
[26] Nigeria's large population and historic ethnic instability has led to the adoption of a federal government.
[13] This has hindered past poverty alleviation efforts to a large extent,[27] since resources which could pay for public goods or directed towards investment (and so create employment and other opportunities for citizens) are being misappropriated.
As a result of extreme corruption, even the poverty reduction programs suffer from no funding and have failed to give the needed remedy to this country.
[31] The management of oil revenues impacted the economy and the level of poverty in Nigeria by a considerable amount, leading up to 1985.
So when the oil revenue crumbled the real capital income decreased heavily and Nigeria's economy took a big hit.
[32] During this shift to a focus on the oil boom, the agricultural sector, where the majority of people made a living, had a sharp drop occur.
In Nigeria, those most at risk of poverty and financially insecure are widows (specifically ones without adult children), orphans, the physically challenged, and migrants.
