A new report by the World Bank says Nigeria’s North-East and regions around Lake Chad basin are troubled by a very high poverty rate.
The report entitled, ‘The Lake Chad Regional Economic Memorandum: Development for Peace,’ also says that poor access to essential services and low human capital characterise the area.
The report reveals that more than 70 per cent of people in North-East Nigeria are poor, noting that the region suffers from severe climate crisis and conflict which reduce development in the area.
“The region is characterized by high rates of poverty, low human capital, and poor access to key services. In the last three decades, economic activity and household incomes have been decreasing,” says the report released recently.
“For instance, in Nigeria’s North East, which flanks the lake to the southwest, poverty rates are estimated at over 70 per cent, almost double the rate in the rest of the country.”
The report states that the poverty rates in Adamawa and Yobe states are as high as 74 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively, which is significantly higher than the national average of 38 per cent.
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The report blames the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in the region for the backwardness suffered by the North-East region, with about 2.7 million people dislodged and 12.8 million people needing humanitarian assistance.
“Of the 12.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 10.6 million are in the three most highly affected states, Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe, in Nigeria’s North East.”
Food insecurity is also a cause of concern in the report, as between 2014 and 2019, the number of undernourished people found in northern Nigeria was 5 million.
The report touches on electricity, saying that only 59 per cent of Nigerians have access to electricity.
A reporter with the ICIR
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