Peter Obi Says Nigeria's Poverty Level is a Threat to Nigeria's Capacity and Effectiveness
- Peter Obi said the current poverty report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is a threat to Nigeria's capacity
- The Labour Party presidential candidate said the country has the potential to end poverty in 10 years, with good leadership
- Obi stated that the current government lacks the policies to wipe off poverty and called the government's performance a failure
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The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter has reacted to the recently released poverty report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which states that 133 million Nigerians are suffering from multidimensional poverty.
Obi cautioned that if the poverty rate in the country is not dealt with, it will destroy the nation's capacity and effectiveness and derail economic and social plans.
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Poverty rate can reverse economic plans
He disclosed this in a statement via his Twitter handle on Thursday, November 24, 2022, stating it is time to end politics as usual and disband the hordes of greedy and self-serving politicians in Nigeria and elect people connected to the masses.
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The presidential hopeful said Nigeria's multidimensional poverty can destroy and reverse economic trends in the future.
According to him, Nigeria's rural areas are trapped in and reek of poverty, leaving Nigerian children miserable and uneducated, adding that 27 per cent of school-age children are out of school and suffering from poverty. In comparison, 94 per cent of schoolchildren are abysmal.
Poverty report is a failure of governance
Obi stated:
"The multidimensional Poverty Index is the best mirror of failure of governance in the country, in spite of earning trillions in oil revenues, in spite of borrowing trillions of naira for infrastructure development."
The erstwhile Anambra state governor said that almost half of Nigerians are poor and that close to two-thirds do not have access to essential nutrition and education and have no access to healthcare.
He said:
"It is a terrible disgrace and disservice to a country with our tremendous natural and human resources. The political economy of this report should be made clear to every Nigerian voter because what it simply means is that the government is not working.
"It means that the state is working for the few and not for all the citizens of the country. It means that the future is terrible for every Nigerian- young or old, rich or poor.
"Unless the situation is arrested, with our population estimated to reach 400 million in the next 28 years, Nigeria would become a security risk to entire sub-Saharan Africa.
The former running mate to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic party in 2019, said the present government has no policy to end poverty.
Poverty rate in Nigeria by geo-political zone, according to NBS report
Legit.ng reported that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released a report on the poverty rate in Nigeria. The report shows that about 133 million Nigerians live in poverty, representing 64 per cent of the entire population.
The NBS report surpasses the World Bank projection for Nigeria's poverty rate, which says that about 95.1 million Nigerians will fall into the poverty bracket in 2022.
The NBS report states that Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor, taking into account various aspects of poverty indicators, including money poverty, food poverty, and security.
Source: Legit.ng
