Study: Some 112m Nigerians in poverty in 2010; 2011 poverty levels predicted to be higher The USA Times

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Study: Some 112m Nigerians in poverty in 2010; 2011 poverty levels predicted to be higher

ABUJA, Nigeria - Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics says poverty levels in the oil-rich West African nation have risen.

Statistician-General Yemi Kale on Monday presented the results of a 2010 study indicating that poverty had risen from 54 per cent of Nigeria's population in 2004 to 69 per cent in 2010, or about 112 million Nigerians.

Kale said 93.9 per cent of respondents had described themselves as poor in the nation of about 160 million people.

Nigeria's northwest and northeast, regions besieged by Islamic insurgents, recorded the highest poverty rates with about 75 per cent of the people there living in poverty.

He said estimates show Nigerians may have gotten poorer in 2011.

Reliable statistics are hard to come by in Nigeria, making public policy planning difficult in Africa's most populous nation.