The United Nations is painting a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s economy, calling it the poorest and most unequal among countries of the world with 64% of her population living below poverty line.
This was in a report read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of the UN Development Assistance Framework IV (UNDAF IV) for the South East geo-political zone in Awka.
The UN says: “Poverty and hunger have remained high in rural areas, remote communities and among female – headed households and these cut across the six geo-political zones, with prevalence ranging from approximately 46.9 percent in the South West to 74.3 percent in North West and North East.”
On unemployment, the report notes that Youth unemployment which is 42% in 2016 has continued to create helplessness and despair resulting into upsurge in crime and terrorism.
It says that over 10 million Nigerian children of school age are out of school with no knowledge or skills.
It estimates Nigeria’s revenue to have fallen as much as 33%, which it says resulted in the contraction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first three months of 2016.
The report concludes by saying that the country’s economic problems is as a result of lack of good governance, while also condemning what it calls the division of Nigeria along ethnic lines.
The report recommended that Nigeria should adopt a radical and new approach to achieve a transformation, by investing in people and in a more dynamic and inclusive productive informal sector.
It also recommended the development of programmes that would address good governance, peace and security.
