Most Nigerians have slipped into extreme poverty — ActionAid

A civil rights group, ActionAid has said that although the Nigerian economy is out of recession, most Nigerians have slipped into extreme poverty.

The chairman of the governing board of the group, Patricia Donli, said this during a press conference held after the organisation’s Annual General Meeting held in Abuja.

In her address titled “State of the Nigerian Nation,” she said the poverty level in the country has worsened to the extent that Nigeria has been named the country with the highest population of people who live in extreme poverty.

“In 2016, the prevalence of people living below the poverty line ranged between 54 per cent -60 per cent but today, 82 million Nigerians are living below the poverty line of 1.9 dollars a day,” adding that as regards the level of poverty, Nigeria is number 187 out of 190 countries.

Mrs Donli said the population of people living in extreme poverty will reduce before the end of the policy timeline of 2020 if the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) policy is thoroughly implemented.

“Not discarding the efforts of government in the areas of improving the economy and security, we believe that much more can be done to make Nigeria better and safer for the citizens,” she said.