Research Paper on Nigeria: Poverty Rate on the Rise

Introduction

Nigeria is one of the countries, which records high rates of poverty. In 2014, the poverty rate was growing at 7.4% based on the report, which was generated by the World Bank (Anyanwu 50). In 2018, the country recorded 90.8 million individuals who were living under intense poverty levels. United Nations has struggled to end extreme poverty across all nations by 2030, according to their sustainable development goals (Anyanwu 50). However, a more significant part of Nigeria, including its capital Lagos is still struggling to feed its citizens. Initially, India was the nation, which had the highest poverty rates. However, the 87 million in Nigeria have made the country gain the first rank, each living with less than $1.90 in a day. In the future, the numbers are projected to rise as no initiative to curb the numbers down has been put in place (Anyanwu 50).

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Nigeria is the leading oil producer in Africa, yet this cannot be translated to its resource wealth. In 2016, the country experienced a drop in oil production. This contributed to the sudden decline in its economic growth and led to the rise of poverty in the nation (Ogbeide, Evelyn, and David 439). This led to a gap between the rich and the poor. People around Lagos can boast about their good life; however, compared to other nations, the economic growth around the place would not sustain a fifth of one of the smallest countries in Africa. There are numerous causes of why the country lags in terms of poverty and political instability. This paper aims at exploring the critical issue of extreme poverty in Nigeria, and some of the main strategies that are applied to fight and end poverty.

The Main Causes of Poverty in Nigeria

First, corruption is one primary concern in the country. Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa. It is ranked first in Africa and among the top 50 in the universe. The country has adopted a federal government due to its huge population and the history of the country. The resulting fiscal decentralization provides the country with considerable autonomy, which aids it in controlling more than 50% of its revenue.

Additionally, the government has tasked itself with providing public services to its citizens (Ogbeide, Evelyn, and David 439). This has led to high corruption rates since the country lacks a rigorous monitoring and regulating system. To reduce poverty, the country would still lag in corruption hence the growing numbers in every fiscal year.

Poverty and corruption in Nigeria are highly related. In regards to human development, corruption has the highest score, while development lags. The government receives support, which ensures the country's rate of corruption is still high and increasing. For instance, corrupt leaders are high tolerated, while society also acknowledges such behaviors instead of taking stern measures (Ogbeide, Evelyn, and David 439). As such, the deprived communities remain poor, while rich people continue getting wealthy, increasing the rich-poor gap.

Secondly, there ethnic and civil unrest has contributed to high poverty rates. Historically, Nigeria has experienced much ethnic rivalry. In 1999, the return of civilian rule meant that both civilian and religious groups became violent (Ogbeide, Evelyn, and David 439). As such, the country experienced lagging in economic growth rates. Additionally, ethnic communities have always fought with oil companies over oil trade. This threatened the production and trading of oil. On the other hand, civil unrest has ensured the country adopts a populist policy measure, which inhibits poverty mitigation efforts even though it is a short-run solution.

Lastly, income inequality is another major contributing factor to Nigeria's poverty. The Gini coefficient of Nigeria as of 2010 was medium, rated at 0.43 (Ogbeide, Evelyn, and David 439). The variance in access to amenities and infrastructure has led to more rural poor people than in urban areas. The energy and agricultural sectors are major contributors to the difference. In essence, Nigeria's oil exports contribute only 9% to the gross domestic product (GDP), more than 50% to the government revenues, and only a fraction to its citizens (Anyanwu 118).

On the other hand, agriculture contributes about 17% of GDP, more than 40% to the government, and the remaining portion to its people (Anyanwu 118). With high government spending in urban areas, it results in incongruence as oil is poorly distributed. Personal income becomes divergent, as there are high rates of unemployment in the country. Additionally, the extraction of oil has led to pollution, which has deteriorated the agricultural sector (Olowa 36). Fights between farmers and headsmen have also contributed to the slow growth of agriculture. Agriculture is the backbone of any economy, and evidently, Nigeria has neglected its farmers.

Until date, Nigeria still faces high poverty rates. This shows that the underlying causes have not been solved. Corruption being the main reason, it has since been encouraged and embraced by leaders (Oduwole 35). Also, societies have continued electing corrupt leaders despite their country's position. The issue is portraying negative consequences than making growth in the economy (Anyanwu 118). For instance, people are dying of hunger strikes while some parts of the country are enjoying good food and shelter. Also, there are fights here and there between different communities, which have caused extreme poverty levels. Nigeria faces extreme poverty levels, and solely the government supports this.

Justification

Much research has instigated the levels of poverty in Nigeria. Many reports, including the United Nations and the World Bank, have reported cases of poverty in the country. Additionally, India, which was one of the developing countries in the whole world, has shown improvements while Nigeria still lags (Olowa 36). As such, Lagos has experienced extreme levels of poverty, which needs to be solved.

Summary of Opposing Views

Despite the evident high poverty levels in Nigeria, some individuals claim the country is only experiencing hunger strikes. Most of the economists claiming this reside in Nigeria. Additionally, it would be the wealthy people who would claim Nigeria is not a developing country. First, the critics have mentioned that Nigeria is among the countries with wealthy individuals. According to Anyanwu, the country has affluent individuals who can feed Nigeria, especially Lagos, with food and basic needs (Anyanwu 120). Also, other critics have mentioned that most countries in Africa are currently facing increased poverty levels. The reasons behind this claim include the high number of elite individuals. Currently, Africa's are being educated from the entire globe. This has increased the number of elite people, which has also contributed to high unemployment levels (Oduwole 35). According to the researcher, high unemployment levels would result in poverty. Also, the researcher claims that the growing population has led to high poverty rates compared to other nations.

While their claims are right, there are certain countries in Africa, which have high population rates with controlled poverty rates. For instance, Libya records a high population rate with minimal rates of poverty. It has a 40% poverty rate, which is 30% more than that of Nigeria. Its population rate currently stands at 1.3% growth every year (Anyanwu 118). As such, the population is not a factor, which can lead to high poverty rates.

Conclusion

This paper aims at exploring the critical issue of extreme poverty in Nigeria, and some of the main strategies that are applied to fight and end poverty. There are extreme poverty rates in Lagos, Nigeria. Poverty is highly related to the history of Nigeria. Mainly, societies around the diaspora are the most affected. This creates a huge poor-rich gap. There are three leading causes of extreme poverty in Nigeria. First, the country has had long-term civil and ethnic wars. This has led to the separation of communities and slow growth in the agricultural sector. Secondly, corruption is the main determinant of poverty in the country. With corruption, the country experiences high political instability. Various communities fight due to the delta oil trade. As communities try to find a solution, the government has huge shares, which its people are never granted. That increases taxes, which the poor people have to pay. Lastly, income inequality has contributed to high poverty levels in the country. Variance in the usage of amenities and infrastructure has led to more poor rural areas while few major cities continue growing.

As time passes by, ending poverty by 2030 has become an issue, especially to counties such as Nigeria. Social and governance issues need to be rectified to ensure economic growth in the country. This will reduce poverty leaves and make Nigeria a great nation.

Work Cited

Anyanwu, John C. "The correlates of poverty in Nigeria and policy implications." African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development 2.1 (2013): 23-52.

Anyanwu, John C. "Marital status, household size and poverty in Nigeria: evidence from the 2009/2010 survey data." African Development Review 26.1 (2014): 118-137.

Oduwole, Tajuden Adebowale. "Youth unemployment and poverty in Nigeria." International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Research 1.2 (2015): 23-39.

Ogbeide, Evelyn Nwamaka Osaretin, and David Onyinyechi Agu. "Poverty and Income Inequality in Nigeria: Any Causality?." Asian Economic and Financial Review 5.3 (2015): 439.

Olowa, Olatomide Waheed. "Concept, measurement, and causes of poverty: Nigeria in perspective." American Journal of Economics 2.1 (2012): 25-36.