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40% Nigerians living below poverty line, World Bank report reveals

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A report released on Wednesday by the World Bank has revealed that 4 out of every 10 Nigerians, translating to a whopping 40%, are living below the National Poverty line.

This revelation which was contained in a press release with the title “A better future for all Nigerians: Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022,” indicted the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of not doing much to lift a majority of the poor masses out of poverty.

The World Bank report cited “sluggish growth, low human capital, labor market weaknesses, and exposure to shocks” as key indicators holding Nigeria’s poverty reduction back.

The report, according to the World Bank, represents the culmination of its engagement on poverty – and inequality- relevant data and analytics in Nigeria in the past two years.

“The survey draws primarily on the 2018/19 Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS), which provided Nigeria’s first official poverty numbers in almost a decade, as well as the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS).”

According to the report which brings together the latest evidence on the profile and drivers of poverty in Nigeria, “as many as 4 in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line.”

“Many Nigerians, especially in the country’s north, also lack education and access to basic infrastructure, such as electricity, safe drinking water, and improved sanitation,” the report also noted.

It went on to suggest “at least three types of deep, long-term reforms to foster and sustain pro-poor growth and raise Nigerians out of poverty.

“These include: (1) macroeconomic reforms (including fiscal, trade, and exchange rate policy); (2) policies to boost the productivity of farm and non-farm household enterprises; and (3) improving access to electricity, water, and sanitation while bolstering information and communication technologies.

“These reforms together could help diversify the economy, invigorate structural transformation, create good, productive jobs, and support social protection programs as well as other redistributive government policies,” it added.

Metro

‘You’re better off in retirement, drinking in peace’, Zambian President taunts predecessor

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Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, has told his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, that he should forget the presidency in 2026 as he is better off in retirement where he can drink in peace.

Hichilema, who spoke to supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) in Mazabuka district on Tuesday, told Lungu that his “buttocks are glued” to the presidential seat, advising Lungu to continue “drinking in peace” because his dream of bouncing back to power was unattainable.

He added that he had sympathy for Lungu who has claimed he would return to the political arena.

“He is better off being in retirement so that he can be drinking in peace,” Hichilema said.

“Someone who is drunk wants to come back to the presidency seat. Where will he sit? You drink and get drunk, then you want to come back to the presidency seat, the seat which I have already taken with my buttocks glued to it, so where will he sit?” he wondered.

Hichilema further dismissed Lungu’s aspirations of returning to power as far-fetched, emphasizing, “I’m not leaving anytime soon.”

He recounted watching Lungu rant from a distance, saying he was not moved by his claims because he perceived Lungu as a drunk man.

“When I hear him talking about bouncing back to power, I peep, and I am like, ‘You are drunk; just sit down and continue drinking every day,’” he remarked.

The President insisted that no one would want to return to the era of the Patriotic Front (PF) which he said individuals were beaten for expressing their political beliefs.

“These people want to take away the free education; they want to take away the increased CDF, which was not correct. We cannot allow people who used to beat us just for wearing red,” he stated.

He pointed out that under the PF’s rule, people were arrested simply for being associated with the UPND, but now it was the PF’s turn to face consequences for their violent behavior.

Hichilema also cautioned all UPND members against claiming that he had already won the 2026 election, warning that such assertions could lead to serious trouble.

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Nigeria: EFCC says country loses $500m to cybercrime annually

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Chairman of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, says the country loses over $500 million annually to various forms of cybercrimes.

Olukoyede, who made the disclosure on Tuesday at the National Cybercrime Summit organised by the EFCC in collaboration with the European Union-funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme of the International (IDEA) in Abuja, noted that an estimated $500m was lost to the scourge in 2022, adding that cybercrime suspects got a larger share of the 3,455 convictions recorded by EFCC in his one year in office.

He added that projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrime may reach a staggering $10.5tn.

“As a matter of fact, the research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third largest GDP in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily,” the EFCC boss said.

“The implication of all this is that if left unchecked, cybercrimes pose grave dangers to the entire world.

“Bringing it to Nigeria, in 2022 alone, Nigeria lost over $500 million to cybercrimes. These are the realities driving the commission’s fight against these crimes.

Cybercrime accounts for a significant percentage of the 3,455 convictions recorded by EFCC in my one year as the Executive Chairman of EFCC.

“A significant portfolio of choice assets has also been recovered and returned to both local and foreign victims of cybercrimes by the commission.

“We are not oblivious of insinuations and misconceptions in some quarters,’ Olukoyede, noting that as part of measures to curb crime, the anti-graft agency was building a cybercrime research centre.

“We are putting up a Cybercrime Research Centre in collaboration with one of the fintechs in Nigeria.

“It’s a centre that will take a minimum of 500 young Nigerians at a time and train them in cyber security and all areas of cybercrime research so that we’ll be able to make something out of them,” he added.

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