Nigeria’s poverty level index hits 72% in 2016, Fitch reports

The level of poverty (productivity index) in Nigeria has maintained a constant rise, reaching its all-time high of 72 percent by August 2016.

This is contained in the latest evaluation report on economic performance of some countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, by a rating agency, Fitch international, made available on Tuesday.

The productivity scale, used in assessing the GDP and other developing indexes of countries, was said to have maintained a constant decline in the past five years in most countries under reference, with Nigeria recording its worst, jumping from 60 per cent in 2015 to 72 per cent in the second quarter of 2016.

Decline in government’s revenue was blamed by the agency for the poor performance, attributing same to the fact that most sensitive aspects of the economy is still largely controlled by government.

A sharp fall in price of oil in the international market, leading to a recession was also identified for the rise in stunted growth of the economy and a rise in poverty level of an average citizen, who now lives on $.05 per day from $1.1 in the past five years.

Other countries in the same parity with Nigeria before now, were growing from $2.2 per day to about $3.

The unemployment level was also cited for the bad situation that the country has found itself, as the report adds that more than 55 per cent youths are either unemployed or underemployed.

Read also: How Nigeria, others can overcome economic challenges –Okonjo-Iweala

“The sloth in economic growth and other related factors have constantly created job insecurity in most countries, with Nigeria having more than 48 per cent job-losses, in the past one year, from the oil and banking sectors alone,” it says.

On the way out, the agency said diversification of the economy and more involvement of the private sector in key public assets ownership and management will go a long way in improving the situation.

It assessed Nigeria from various aspects of economic projections, including ranking it with countries of developing economies, which shared the same parity with it in the past 10 years.

Nigeria, concludes the report, is doing relatively well in security management, scoring 65 per cent in that category.

It calls for urgent attention on its human and material management, to see it improve on from its present 36 out of 50 countries surveyed, including Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Iraq, Iran and Indonesia.

By Emma Eke ….

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