World Bank Indicts Jonathan’s Government, Says Massive Poverty, Unemployment killing Nigerians

The number of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing significantly, the World Bank says.

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,” said the World Bank, courtesy of "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 hike considerably"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.

Beside the inflationary poverty level, the organization said the measures geared to attaining other Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria has so far been highly disheartening, placing Nigeria at 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nation Human Development Index, as unemployment hovers over every young Nigerian. 

“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."

However, there is a gross disparity between the report statistics and what is obtainable in reality.

Reports over the recent years had 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 Annual Growth Rate report stated that, Nigeria has experienced a tremendous 7 percent turnover over the decades, placing Nigeria as the fastest growing economy 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.

“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” said the World Bank. 

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 favorable 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.