Newscenter Media News The World Bank said on Wednesday more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty.
In its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report titled: “Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,” the World Bank specified that about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty.
The Washington-based institution urged the Nigerian government to create productive jobs to reduce poverty.
The report read: “Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria.
“More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power brought about by inflation.
“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 percent to 56.0 percent.
“Combined with population growth, this means that some 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016.
“The COVID-19 pandemic compounded this drop in economic activity. Moreover, growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power.”
The World Bank pointed out that poverty reflects the non-inclusive structure of growth.
The organisation said the best way to share the proceeds of growth is through jobs but stressed that employment is not enough to lift people out of poverty.
“Even when GDP was expanding more rapidly in the early 2010s, richer households benefited more. Jobs hold the key to sharing the proceeds of growth.
READ ALSO: World Bank secures $100bn for poorest nations through record IDA replenishment
“However, employment on its own is not enough to lift people out of poverty: Nigeria needs productive jobs, but these are scarce.
“Many jobs are not productive and therefore remunerative enough to afford a life beyond poverty.
“In Nigeria, as in many countries, high employment and high poverty coexist. In-work poverty is common as many jobs do not generate earnings that are high enough to escape poverty.
“Low incomes are symptomatic of low productivity jobs. Nigeria’s labour market is changing – with employment shifting from agriculture to services – but these changes are not increasing overall productivity and living standards, because many of the new service-sector jobs are in low-productivity sub-sectors like retail and wholesale trade.
“Sustained poverty reduction depends on creating wage jobs through macro-fiscal stability, growth, and private sector development, complemented by building human capital,” the Bretton Woods institution stated.
The post In a new report, World Bank reveals over 50% of Nigeria’s population languishing in poverty appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.