91 million Nigerians now live in poverty — NESG

Mr. Asue Ighodalo, Chair­man of NESG, stated this in Abuja at the launch of 2022 Macroeconomic Outlook Re­port with the theme, ‘The Last Mile: Reforms Towards Signif­icant Improvement in Nation­al Economic Outcomes’.

Ighodalo, who quoted the World Bank report which es­timates that an additional one million people were pushed into poverty in Nigeria be­tween June and November 2021, said a total of 8 million Nigerians were thrown into poverty in 2021.

He said: “The World Bank estimates that an additional one million people were pushed into poverty in Nigeria between June and November 2021, re­sulting in a total of about 8 mil­lion people being relinquished to poverty in 2021; and bringing our nation’s poverty headcount to about 91 million.

“That is 91 million Nigeri­ans afflicted by the ‘poverty virus’, which is every bit as deadly and more infectious than SARS, COVID-19, judging by the numbers.”

It would be recalled that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in May, 2020, said more than 82.9 million Nigerians were poor.

The Bureau in its report on Poverty and Inequality in Ni­geria 2019, said 40.1 percent of the total population in Nigeria was classified as poor, which implies that an average four out of 10 individuals in Nige­ria had real per capita expendi­tures below N137,430.00 in 2018.

Ighodalo also identified some factors responsible for worsening economic crisis and greatly threaten a full eco­nomic rebound in the country.

Such factors, according to him, include “multiple macroeconomic challeng­es, exchange rate volatility, fiscal constraints, market distortions, high inflation, an unattractive investment environment (with security concerns at the core of inves­tor reticence) as well as infra­structure deficits.”

He called on the govern­ment to address these impedi­ments with a sense of urgency, noting that the implementa­tion of immediate economic reforms must be prioritised to promote higher productivity, achieve economic efficiency, and deepen inclusive develop­ment.

“Long-standing issues such as effective deregulation of the downstream oil and gas sector, foreign exchange scarcity and pricing, export promotion, en­hanced revenue generation without dampening entrepre­neurial drive, acceleration of economic diversification and patient quality investment into priority sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, social (education & health), trade and information tech­nology sectors, must be given the utmost attention in 2022,” he said.

Ighodalo, however, ex­pressed reservations in the im­plementation of key reforms to turn around the fortunes of the nation, in view of the fact that 2022 is a pre-election year.

“Election-related distrac­tions will likely have the effect of amplifying the challenges experienced in 2021 if the gov­ernment does not immediately move to stem the tide by imple­menting critical reforms.

“We believe that policies that directly impact the wel­fare, gainful employment and safety of our citizens and the performance, sustainability and job-creating potentials of our businesses, in the short term, must be at the fore of government policies and ac­tions in 2022.

“Being a pre-election year, 2022 will likely come with its peculiarities.

“First, increased election spending could motivate a tighter monetary policy stance to curb inflationary pressures.

“Secondly, attention may shift from effective governance to outright politicking.

“The pace of decision-mak­ing usually slows down in a pre-election year and reform pronouncements and imple­mentation become difficult.

“Thirdly, the philosophical and political battles which will ensue as each party seeks to choose its presidential can­didate and then convince the citizens that they are the party that will form the best govern­ment, may relegate focus on the economy and lead to the stagnation of our recovery,” he explained.

He, therefore, recommend­ed that proactive and swift actions should be taken by the government in the imple­mentation of various reforms, preferably in the first quarter of 2022.

As the political activities heighten, the chairman of NESG urged Nigerians to make careful choice with re­gard to various candidates and their political parties to forestall plunging Nigeria into further economic morass.

According to him, “As cam­paigns begin to kick off for the general elections in 2023, we must pay very careful atten­tion to the candidates that the political parties present.

“We, the people of Nigeria, must carefully consider the ca­pacities, track record and love of the country demonstrated by each of these candidates.

“We must only reward with our votes those parties that put forward knowledgeable reformers; reformers who are creative, passionate, cou­rageous and have shown with evidence of their life’s work, a genuine love for the people of Nigeria.”

In his presentation, Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, Chief Execu­tive Officer of NESG, stressed the need for macroeconomic stability, improvement of the internally generated revenue (IGR) and addressing the nag­ging issue of fuel subsidy.

He pointed out that 40 per­cent of the population con­sumes three percent of the petroleum products, adding that the continued retention of subsidy in the budgetary allocation is not sustainable.

In his remarks, Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, com­mended NESG for developing the Macroeconomic Outlook Report, assuring that the Na­tional Assembly in partner­ship with the executive arm would implement the recom­mendations of the report.

Lawal, represented by Chairman, Senate Commit­tee on Finance, Sen. Solomon Adeola, argued that the stu­pendous amount of money borrowed by the present ad­ministration has been chan­neled into legacy projects.