100 million Nigerians living in Penury Condition – World Bank

Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria,  in Enugu said  at the bank’s Country Programme Portfolio Review  that 100 million Nigerians live in destitution and abject poverty.

Her words, “1.2 billion people live in destitution out of which 100 million are Nigerians. Inequality is rising in many developing nations.

“For this reason, the World Bank’s corporate perspective has shifted more strategically in the past year. The World Bank wants to galvanise international and national support around two goals: to end extreme poverty in a generation and to push for greater equality.

“To end extreme poverty, the World Bank Group’s goal is to decrease the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day from 20 per cent today to three per cent by 2030.

“The goal is to promote income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population in each country. In Nigeria, 63 per cent of the population live on less than $1.25 a day.”

Marie-Nelly said the yearly Country Programme Portfolio Review, was necessary to measure the progress of World Bank’s project  undertakings in Nigeria.