The
number of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing significantly,
revealing a perplexing contrast between the nation’s economic statistics
on rapid economic growth and minimal welfare improvements for much of
the population, the World Bank has said.
“Poverty rates remain
high in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas. These rates declined
between 2003-2004 and 2009- 2010, although not nearly as fast as would
be expected from the pace of economic growth in the country,” the World
Bank said in its ‘Nigeria Economic Report’ May, 2013.
“While the
officially reported growth rates of GDP well exceed population growth in
the country, the pace of poverty reduction does not, this implies that
the number of poor Nigerians living below the poverty line has grown
measurably,” the report stated.
The World Bank said the first
Nigeria Economic Report is designed to give some attention to longer
term trends in the country, including the puzzle of why a decade of
rapid GDP growth by official statistics, concentrated in the pro-poor
areas of agriculture and trade, did not bring stronger welfare and
employment benefits to the population.
Aside from the increase in
poverty, the organisation said progress towards a number of the other
Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria has also been disappointing,
stating that Nigeria was ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013
United Nations Human Development Index, as unemployment rates have been
steadily increasing and younger Nigerians are encountering increasing
difficulty in finding gainful employment.
The organisation said available data on unemployment suggest a similar story.
“Job
creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding
working age population. The official unemployment rate has steadily
increased from 12% of the working age population in 2006 to 24% in 2011.
Preliminary indications are that this upward trend continued in 2012.
Another
issue the report highlighted was that the official definition of
employment in Nigeria (less than 40 hours worked in the past week) is
unusual, and is therefore not comparable to that in most other
countries. The negative dynamic is very consistent, however, with
perceptions of the population of increasing difficulties for finding
gainful employment. Going by this, the problem in Nigeria might best be
interpreted as underemployment in contrast to unemployment proper.
Variance in reported statistics and reality
Reports
over the recent years have continued to highlight the concern that the
Nigerian economic statistics reveals a puzzling contrast between rapid
economic growth and quite minimal welfare improvements for much of the
population.
Nigeria’s annual growth rates that average over 7 per
cent in official data during the last decade place the nation among the
fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been
concentrated particularly in trade and agriculture, which would suggest
substantial welfare benefits for many Nigerians.
“Nevertheless,
improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than
would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and
job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social
distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress toward the
fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow,
and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United
Nations Human Development Index” the World Bank said.
The
Organisation said further data collection and investigations will be
necessary to clarify this picture of what factors are responsible or
explain the disparities between economic growth and the welfare
indicators of the nation.
“Given the seeming inconsistencies
between the national accounts data summarized above and statistics based
on other surveys, it is imperative to conduct further investigations
and statistical tests to uncover the true growth and development story
in Nigeria” the World Bank said.
Against this backdrop, the World
Bank said it is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid
growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to
increase standards of education, health, and other social services to
enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth
poles.
“In sum, statistics on poverty and unemployment in
Nigeria, together with other direct indicators of welfare, suggest a
story that is rather different from the national accounts data. GDP
growth has not been sufficient to support levels of poverty reduction
and job creation necessary to prevent a growing number of poor and
unemployed (underemployed) Nigerians.”
Despite the challenges,
the World Bank states that the macroeconomic outlook for Nigeria in 2013
appears fairly strong, assuming that oil prices do not decline sharply
and oil output stabilizes. The foreign inflows that generated the
balance of payments surplus and reserve accumulation should continue,
and will stimulate domestic demand. In this context, particularly if
there are better weather conditions in 2013, the pace of economic growth
could accelerate somewhat.
“Overall, 2013 should provide a
favourable context for the realization of key reforms and investments
(power, roads, business climate, education, health, agriculture) that
could generate the non-oil growth, productivity increases, and jobs
needed to ensure the country’s prosperous future”.
The Jonathan
administration has increasingly made reference to Nigeria’s GDP and
economic growth as signs of successes while the opposition and several
Nigerians lament that those growth have not had a corresponding effect
on the lives of average Nigerians.
Ibibo Joshua Teddy Community Secondary School, Kpansia, Yenagoa and this picture was taken yesterday....Tnks
Borogha Prince Aladin WHAT SCHOOL SCHOOL IS THIS I MEAN THE NAME WHERE IS SITUATED IBIBO JOSHUA PLS TELL ME VERRY BAD
Okou Anita I
think is high time we stop discriminating government and think of what
to do to better the situation of things in the state. As a youth in this
state,what have you contributed to change things around you in the
state?. Don't just sit back and discriminate but rather make positive
contributions to better the situation.
ISLAMABAD:
World Day Against Child Labor will be observed on June 12 across the
world including Pakistan to highlight the global extent of child labour
and raise awareness on the condition of millions of children, girls and
boys working as labourers.
The
unbelievable happened at the University of Kansas Hospital when doctors
had to apply superglue to stop the bleeding from the brain of a baby to
save her life during an emergency surgery after it was discovered that
Baby Ashlyn Julian was suffering from brain aneurysm.
As
part of contribution to United Nation’s peace support operations to
West Africa, 700 soldiers from the Nigerian Army have been deployed to
Liberia for a peace support operation.
A
12-month-old baby, on Tuesday afternoon, died as a residential
three-storey building collapsed around Challenge Bus Stop in Mushin area
of Lagos State.
