The news these days about Nigeria are not cheery. When Fulani militias are not unleashing blood-curdling violence over the killing of their cows, reputable international institutions are talking about the excruciating poverty that assail Nigerians.
According to the projections of Brookings, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC., “Nigeria has already overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in early 2018”.
Another African country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brookings says, could soon take over the number two spot occupied by India..
Brookings states further: “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.
“What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.”
The organisation fears that 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.
Among other institutions Brookings depended on for the damning statistics on Nigeria are PovCal (World Bank), World Economic Outlook (IMF); World Population Prospects (UN); Shared Socio-Economic Pathways (IIASA), World Income Inequality Database (UNU-WIDER); Algorithm developed by World Data Lab.
Details of the Brookings report can be found at www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/06/19/the-start-of-a-new-poverty-narrative/