Despite claims of mind- boggling strong economic growth by the government of the day, facts have emerged? that figures bandied about may not afterall reflect the actual reality on ground according to a statement from the office of the? National Bureau? for Statistics(NBS).
This is not the first time reality will be contradicting claims that the country’s economy has grown tremendously.
This time, it is the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) which figures have disagreed with the? reported economic growth. According to it, almost 100 million people live on less than $1 a day, despite the much touted? strong growth.
The implication is that the percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty; that is those who could? afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing – rose to 60.9 per cent in 2010, from the 54.7 per cent it was? in 2004, the bureau said.
Although the country’s economy is projected to continue growing, poverty is likely to get worse as the gap between the? rich and? the poor continues to widen.
“It remains a paradox … that despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year,” Statistician General,Yemi Kale, told reporters in Abuja yesterday during a briefing with the media.
“NBS estimates that this trend may have increased further in 2011 if the potential positive impacts of several anti-poverty and employment generation intervention programmes are not taken into account,” Kale said.
Corruption is rife and for decades politicians have focused on milking cash from crude oil exports, which averaged more than two million barrels per day, rather than developing infrastructure and creating jobs for locals.
Despite holding the world’s seventh largest gas reserves, which could be used to generate power, most of the country has remained in darkness.
More than half of the country’s 160 million inhabitants live without electricity, while the rest have to rely on expensive generators run on diesel supplies controlled by a small and powerful cartel of importers.
Tens of thousands of Nigerians protested for over a week in January against the government’s decision to end subsidies on petrol imports, a decision welcomed by economists.
What started as a protest against fuel prices, quickly? snow-balled? into anger over? corruption? in government and poor governance and pressure has been building on President Goodluck Jonathan, to tackle graft, particularly in the oil sector.
Jonathan, has set up several committees, and an audit report is being carried out on the national oil company NNPC. Many such reports have been ignored in the past and industry experts were of the opinion that? it was unlikely endemic corruption would? be reined in soonest.
The protests came at a bad time for Jonathan who has been criticised for not getting a grip on increasingdeadly attacks by Boko Haram in the north.
Boko Haram, which wants Islamic law more widely applied in Nigeria, killed more than 250 people in January in a series of bomb and gun attacks in northern cities. It mostly focuses its violence on the police and other authority figures.
Poverty feeds the unrest because the sect is able to coax into its campaign, disillusioned youths angry with a government which offers them little.
Data on Monday showed that the northeast and northwest, where Boko Haram originated, are the poorest regions in Nigeria. The southwest, which includes the thriving commercial hub Lagos, has the lowest levels of poverty.