By Godfrey Ubaka
It promises to be yet another very significant week in the United Nations Calendar as Friday October 17 is billed to be celebrated across the globe as International Day for the eradication of poverty. The day means quite a lot for nations across the globe and even more so for Nigeria currently being referred to as the poverty capital of the world.
The United Nations recognizes poverty as a social economic anathema reprehensibly antithetical to worthwhile developmental strides, reducing life to a pitiable, miserable drudgery instead of a fulfilling enterprise. This was the spirit that informed the number one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals whose target is the eradication of poverty by 2030.That set date is barely four years and two months away.
The attainment of this goal-one is deemed critical for the realization of the other goals such as Zero Hunger, Good health and well-being, Quality education, Gender equality, Clean water and sanitation, Affordable and clean energy, Decent work and economic growth and the rest of the goals. It remains an issue of obvious concern that as the world is assiduously working towards the eradication of poverty through people oriented policies, Nigeria through its elite designed social economic policies appears to be comfortable breeding Multidimensional poverty and widening the gulf between the rich and the poor.
Updated official statistics from the World Bank has it that 139 million Nigerians are currently living in acute poverty even in the face of what the Federal Government insists are reform gains. The conventional expectation is that the gains of the reforms, if there are really gains should impact on the People’s standard of living and have a way of reducing the raging wave of poverty across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
The citizens have become wary of official presentations of growth indicators in an economy where poverty is looming larger than life and prices of essential goods and services are way out of the reach of the average citizen. Take a look at this for instance. According to the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s economy has grown by 4.23% in the second quarter of 2025, an improvement from the 3.48% in Q2 2024. The growth was said to have been driven by the non-oil sector, which expanded by 3.64%, while the oil sector grew by 1.87% within the same period.
It sounds somewhat preposterous that the statistical indicators will be posting growth and recovery while the market realities are showing recession and atrophy. It is in the light of this obvious yawning lacuna between the statistics that present gains of reforms with glimmers of phantom hope and the gory reality on ground that the World Bank recently called on the Federal Government to ensure that the acclaimed positive outcomes from its macroeconomic reforms translate into real improvements in citizens’ living standards, with an unveiled reference to the 139 million Nigerians that are living in poverty.
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, made the timely appeal last week Wednesday during the launch of the latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report in Abuja.
There are things that are obviously not adding up when citizens are told of improved revenues accruing to the government since the removal of subsidies on petroleum products, stabilising of foreign exchange markets, growing reserves, and a decline in inflation. When these are happening concurrently in the face of wide scale poverty and drastically reduced standard of living, then, there are bound to be credibility deficit issues along the line. There is an obvious disconnect in the macroeconomic setting when these positive posts fail to positively impact the people’s standard of living.
Some of us are still at a loss as to what economic model canvases for increased and unregulated borrowing as a key component of sustainable economic reform. In the words of Verghis, “Growth has picked up, revenues have risen, debt indicators are improving, the FX market is stabilising, reserves are rising, and inflation is finally beginning to come down.
However, that millions of Nigerians have yet to feel the benefits of these reforms remain a key concern because macroeconomic gains must be swiftly converted into welfare improvements.’ That precisely is the reason for my worry.
The challenge before the various tiers of government is clear, how to translate reform gains into better living standards for all.
The title of the new NDU report, “From Policy to People: Bringing the Reform Gains Home,” remains food for thought for Nigeria’s policy formulators. Stakeholders should come to urgent realization that curbing food inflation is particularly crucial to protecting the poor. Affordable housing is another key area to look at. It pains to see a growing number of Nigerians homeless and turned into destitutes.
For an administration that operates ‘responsible borrowing” , it was not much of a surprise that the President last week sought senate approval for $2.35bn loan, $500m Sovereign Sukuk The President wrote to the Senate, seeking approval to raise $2.35 billion in external loans to part-finance the 2025 budget deficit and refinance Nigeria’s maturing Eurobonds, as well as issue a $500 million sovereign Sukuk to fund infrastructure projects.
It will be recalled that last month, the Speaker, House of Representatives , Abbas Tajudeen raised alarm over Nigeria’s rising debt profile which currently stands at N149trn considered to be a critical point. A reform driven on debt and piloted by a bloated profligate set of political elites will almost certainly end up with enlarged poverty. That’s more like deforming the people’s economic structures in the name of reforms.
A viable and responsible democracy should be concerned about fiscal stability, development, and the welfare of both present and future generations as economic and policy decisions are anchored on transparency, prudence, and tangible social impact. There should therefore be a critical logical connection between policy and people. What use is a policy that ends up pauperising the people and empowering a few entrenched wealthy individuals and groups?
Nigeria’s history of borrowing has been known to follow a familiar trajectory of debt facilities secured to service the greed of a bloated government. On the other hand, responsibility demands that borrowing should always be channelled towards infrastructure, health, education, and industries that create jobs, reduce poverty and secure the future.
Reckless debt that fuels consumption or corruption must be seen for what it is; a danger both to the present and future development initiatives.
There is nothing reformative about untamed penchant for borrowing. When the National Assembly instead of standing for the interest of the people, repeatedly rubber stamps the insatiable inclination to loans on the part of the Executive without being fully alive on oversight responsibilities as to what facilities such loans that eat into the future are deployed into economic danger is iminent.
It indeed remains an issue of growing concern that the gains of our country’s economic reforms instead of reducing the raging wave of poverty find expression in already developed economies where they are laundered in form of property and other hidden investments. A policy is as good as its implementation. Skewed implementation of reform policies, no matter how noble make them turn out as deformative and breeding ground for poverty multiplication and economic growth retardation.
The time has come for us to come to terms with the fact that poverty is a man-made socioeconomic nuisance that can be eradicated with sincerity of purpose and determined willpower on the part of policy makers. Any economic path leading to sustainable development should at all times prioritize the needs of the poor, not just the narrow interest of the wealthy.
