The United Nations has described Nigeria’s economy as gloomy, calling Nigeria the poorest and most unequal among countries of the world with 64% of her population living below poverty line.

This is according to a report on Nigeria’s Common Country Analysis, CCA, read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of the fourth UN Development Assistance Framework, UNDAF IV, for the South East geo-political zone in Awka.

The UN report stated that “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.”

It also noted that Youth unemployment which is 42% in 2016 has continued to create helplessness and despair which has resulted in upsurge in crime and terrorism.

The world body said 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.”

The UN also condemned what it described as the division of Nigeria along ethnic lines, while blaming the country’s woes on lack of good governance.

The report read in part: “Nigeria is a deeply divided society considering the plurality of ethnic, religious and regional identities that define her political existence.

“For decades, different segments of Nigeria’s population had, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalization, of being short-changed, dominated, oppressed, threatened, or even targeted for elimination.”

“The major challenges Nigeria is currently facing that constrain her economic growth and social development are lack of good governance, general increased insecurity across geo-political zones in North East, Niger Delta and Lake Chad region in particular.

“The situation is exacerbated by the existence of systematic accountability challenges, limited capacities of independent institutions/ commissions and limited accountability at the federal, states and local government levels.

However, 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.