Nigeria’s Poverty Epidemic: African Development Bank President Dr.Akinwunmi Adesina sounds alarm

The President African Development Bank Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, has expressed concerns about the alarming rate of poverty in Nigeria.

According to recent reports, 133 million Nigerians out of a population of over 200 million are living in poverty .

This is a staggering number that requires immediate attention from the government.

He reinstated that addressing the poverty level is key to Nigeria becoming a global player and leading the African continent.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index report by the National Bureau of Statistics reveals that 67.5% of children under the age of 18 are poor, and 70.1% of children under 5 are poor .

This is particularly worrisome, as poverty has a lasting impact on children’s education, health, and nutrition.

In fact, 57.8 million children of school-going age are not attending school, and 94% of these out-of-school children are poor Adesina emphasizes the need for welfarist policies and people-centered approaches to tackle poverty in Nigeria and Africa

. He urges leaders to make poverty history and promote economic growth that benefits all.

“The National Bureau of Statistics, NVS in 2022 estimated that 63% of persons living within Nigeria plus 133 million people at the time are multi-dimensionally poor.

“It also states that over half of the population of Nigeria cook with charcoal wood, other than clean out energy, high deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, health care, food security, and housing poverty,”

“It is particularly extreme in rural areas where millions of people have been forgotten and abandoned. The gravity of the situation is even worse in northern Nigeria.

”The African Development Bank President Dr Akinwunmi Adesina emphasized that, “As we speak today, 65% of the poor, that’s 86 million people live in northern Nigeria while 35% nearly 47 million live in the South.”According to him, the level of poverty has led to crimes and a general fall in the standards of living among Nigerians.

“The level of suffering, helplessness, and abandonment are got in our hope and drowning communities and people in despair as economic activities plummet,” Adesina said. “Consequently, the criminal economy is ending the real economy of Nigeria.

”“To address the situation, urgent and comprehensive efforts are needed to restore security and law and order to protect lives, property, and farmlands and to restore normalcy to traumatized zones,” the AfDB President told the gathering.

“Towns, villages, and communities to stabilize and restore economic fortunes, education, health, social protection and jobs for youth programs must be prioritized simultaneously.

”Food inflation in Nigeria is around 40 percent, pushing the cost of basic items beyond the rich of millions of Nigeria. With insecurity in some of the country’s food belts affecting the prices of commodities,Dr Adesina wants the government to fight insecurity.

“Decisive and sustained efforts are needed to end insecurity, especially to save vast areas of the foot belts, belts of Nigeria in the North West, North East and Middle ballots.

The deployment of digital surveillance tools, drones artificial intelligence, and satellite imagery needs to be increasingly used to track and provide intelligence,” Dr Adesina said.“The development and the deployment of farm production protection guards and safe food transport corridors are worth developing a more secure Nigeria will be a more food secure Nigeria.

”He said the AfDB and its partners are investing right now over $840 million in the development of what is called special agro-industrial processing zones in eight states of the Federation.“This will help Nigeria to process and add value to all of its agricultural commodities and establish critically needed platforms for becoming competitive in global agricultural value chains,” he said.

He highlighted some alarming statistics: Africa has 431 million people living in extreme poverty, with Nigeria accounting for the largest share of its population living below the extreme poverty line.

Dr. Adesina attributed this to poor management of natural resources, lack of transparency, and corruption.

To reverse this trend, Dr. Adesina advocated for:-

Accountability: Governments must take responsibility for lifting their people out of poverty and into wealth

Eliminating Poverty*: Rather than just alleviating poverty, Africa should focus on eliminating it altogether.

Agricultural Development*: Africa should become self-sufficient in food production, leveraging its 65% share of the world’s uncultivated arable land

*Value Addition*: Africa should move from exporting raw commodities to producing value-added products, retaining more of the global value chain

Dr. Adesina’s words serve as a call to action for Nigerian leaders to prioritize poverty reduction and economic growth. By addressing these challenges, Nigeria can unlock its potential and earn respect globally.

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