By Obike Ukoh
A prominent politician once told his audience that the problem with the country is the political class, as the general welfare of the people and economic development are never their major concern and worry.
He lamented that in their various discourse, prominence is usually given to who gets what and the distribution of political offices among them and their cronies.
There is no better time to agree with him than now, because as the media space is dominated with who becomes the next president, governor, among others in 2027, poverty is deepening in Nigeria, even acknowledged by leading world economic bodies.
Recent reports and comments about Nigerian economy, painted gloomy picture of the country, with a resounding verdict, that poverty in the country is recording progressive growth.
The World Bank in a recent report stated that 139 million Nigerians are now living in poverty, stressing that the country risks losing reform gains if they fail to translate into tangible improvements in people’s welfare.
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, who spoke when he launched the October 2025 Nigeria Development Update(NDU) titled, “From Policy to People: Bringing the Reform Gains Home,’’ commended Nigeria’s bold reforms in the exchange rate and petroleum subsidy regimes, describing them as “foundational” steps that could reshape the country’s long-term economic trajectory.
The World Bank chief, however, noted that the economic policies had yet to translate into improved living conditions for ordinary Nigerian.
“Despite these stabilisation gains, many households are still struggling with eroded purchasing power. Poverty, which began to rise in 2019 due to policy missteps and external shocks such as COVID-19, has continued to increase even after the reforms. In 2025, we estimate that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty,” he stated.
The new figure indicates a sharp increase from 129 million recorded in April 2025 and 87 million in 2023, reflecting the deepening hardship among households despite ongoing economic reforms.
As expected, the Presidency disputed the report by Nigeria’s biggest multilateral lender, the World Bank, describing the figure as “unrealistic” and detached from the country’s economic realities.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said that the poverty figures must be “properly contextualised” within the limits of global poverty measurement models.
The Presidency explained that the 139 million figure was derived from the global poverty line of $2.15 per person per day, set in 2017 using Purchasing Power Parity, and should not be mistaken for an actual headcount of poor Nigerians.
Dare noted that when converted to nominal terms, the $2.15 benchmark equals about N100,000 per month at current exchange rates, which is well above Nigeria’s new minimum wage of N70,000.
`The government, therefore, considers the World Bank’s estimate asa modelled global projection, not an empirical representation of living conditions in 2025,” he noted.
As the debates go on, scores of Nigerians last week took to the streets of Abuja, the nation’s capital, to protest rising cost of living in the country and an end to social and institutional poverty.
The protest was part of activities to mark the
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
It kicked off with a procession from the Labour House, and the protesters wielding placards with various inscriptions walking through the streets to the Federal Ministry of Finance and then back to the Labour House.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘Our pots are empty because the system is broken!’; ‘We march not just for food but for justice, dignity and equality’; ‘President Tinubu, we cannot eat promises! Feed us with Justice and Good Governance!.’
Before they set out on the walk, the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTiON) was officially launched to push their agenda in commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who addressed the protesters virtually, said Nigerians have no business being hungry.
“Today’s gathering carries a double significance. We are here to witness the formal launch of the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria. A coalition of courageous citizens determined to end the cycle of bad government and structural poverty that has claimed our country.
“We also commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. a day set aside globally to reaffirm the commitment of all nations and peoples to the dignity and welfare of the human person.
“The theme before us, ‘Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment’, is not merely academic. It is a life or a new reality familiar to Nigeria. It compels us to confront the painful truth that our institutions are designed to serve the world, that our laws meant to protect are too frequently ignored, and that our society, rich in human and natural resources, continue to nurture poverty instead of prosperity.
“When we speak of social maltreatment, we refer to the denial of basic necessities, food, shelter, education, healthcare, and employment, which further drive majority of our people to live a life of needless suffering.
“When we speak of institutional maltreatment, we speak of the abuse, neglect, and inefficiency that have become endemic in the organs of state power, from the police station to the courts, from the ministries to our political sphere.”
Falana further said, “Our democracy became one of elections without accountability, representation without a consulate, democracy without a government.
“The fight against bad treatment, therefore, is not a new demand, but a rather old moral obligation to insist that governance must serve humanity and that the institution must protect rather than punish.
“We have no business in poverty. And if we do the right thing, our resources will work more for us. Accountability, corruption, let’s start prosecuting those that have been indicted.
The convener of the MOTiON (protest), Hawa Mustapha, said Motion simply stands for Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria, saying “enough is enough to suffering. We have no business being poor in a country of plenty.
“We have no business having 31 million Nigerians waking up without an idea of where the next meal is going to come from. We have no reason to have 11 million children on the streets of Nigeria not having food to eat, living with severe hunger. Whereas this is a country that is endowed with agricultural production.”
She explained that the idea of MOTiON is to say that, look, “Nigerians there are no Nigerians that are more Nigerians than the other. We all have a collective stake in this country called Nigeria. We have no other place to call home.”
“We are not going to rest until this country that we call ours is truly ours in terms of the dignity of the people that live in this country.”
Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, also drew attention to the menacing harsh conditions in the country, and expressed deep concern over the worsening hardship and increasing poverty across Nigeria.
Igwe Achebe, who spoke during the 24th Ofala Festival at his palace, Ime-Obi, Onitsha, described the situation as “critical and deeply troubling,”
He also decried the growing political maneuvering ahead of the 2027 general elections, while giving less attention how to solve teething economic problems.
He noted that emerging political alliances appear to be driven by selfish interests rather than the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.
Achebe said the theme of this year’s Ofala Festival, “Njikọ na Ntachi” (Unity and Perseverance), reflects the nation’s economic hardship and underscores the need for empathy, resilience, and collective resolve.
Quoting recent data, Igwe Achebe observed:
“According to the latest World Bank Development Update on Nigeria, the national poverty rate has surged from 40 percent in 2018 to 60 percent in 2023, rising from 79 million to 104 million people now living in poverty.”
He lamented the difficulty many Nigerians face in accessing basic necessities such as food, healthcare, transportation, and housing, warning that escalating violence was crippling the agricultural sector.
While acknowledging ongoing government macroeconomic stabilization efforts, the traditional ruler called for more targeted interventions to cushion the effects of hardship on vulnerable citizens.
“We urge the government to urgently provide relief measures and palliatives that will directly reach those most in need, bypassing bureaucratic bottlenecks that often derail such efforts,” he said.
On the political scene, Igwe Achebe faulted leaders who have already shifted their focus to the 2027 elections.
“The political class appears to have shifted its focus entirely to 2027. New alliances are being formed not in service of the people, but for self-preservation and material benefit,” he stated.
Poverty in Nigeria is daily deepening, while those that ought to tackle the problem headlong, are pre-occupied with their future political ambition, with less interest in uplifting the condition of those that elected them.
uplifting the people is a panacea to a conducive political environment. Nigerians won’t expect less from those they voted into power.
