The Double Tragedy of Poverty and Corruption in Nigeria
By Innocent Edemhanria Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural and human resources, yet it remains plagued by high rate of poverty, inequality and pervasive corruption. Despite decades of development plans and exploitation of natural resources resulting in significant oil and non-oil revenues, millions of Nigerians continue to live below the poverty line of $3.00 per day, being the World Bank's current international poverty line for low-income countries updated in June 2025. This figure replaces the previous $2.15 poverty line based on 2017 purchasing power parities (PPPs). The Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Bureau of Statistics launched the results of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey in 2022. The report showed that 63% of persons living within Nigeria (133 million people) were multidimensionally poor. The report further established that 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in ...