A report by OXFAM, the international anti-poverty NGO, has claimed that the combined wealth of just 5 of Nigerians wealthiest citizens is enough to lift the over 112million Nigerians living below the extreme poverty line , out of poverty.
The report titled "Inequality In Nigeria: Exploring the Drivers" released today on the NGOs website, bemoaned the avoidably high rate of poverty and inequality in the country which it noted are not due to lack of resources, but "the ill-use, misallocation and misappropriation of such resources." The report further noted that the bane of the unfortunate situation has been "a culture of corruption and rent-seeking combined with a political elite out of touch with the daily struggles of average Nigerians."
In a mind-boggling juxtaposition of the inequality situation in the country, the report revealed that "in one day, the richest Nigerian man can earn from his wealth 8,000 times more than what the poorest 10% of Nigerian spend on average in one year for their basic consumption." It noted that "lifting all Nigerian people living below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 out of poverty for one year will cost about $24 billion. This amount of money is just lower than the total wealth owned overall by the five richest Nigerians in 2016, which was equal to $29.9 billion."
It also highlighted the unfortunate reality that "wealth has the potential to capture government policymaking and bend the rules in favour of the rich, often to the detriment of everyone else." This, according to the report, results in the "erosion of democratic governance, the diminishing of social cohesion and the vanishing of equal opportunities for all."
The OXFAM researchers identified factors responsible for the growing poverty and inequality in the country to include retrogressive taxation which favours the rich, cronyism, prohibitive cost of governance and misapplication of resources. The report further advised Government on relevant intervention measures to stem tide and possibly reverse the trend through addressing inequality, combating unemployment and corruption as well as supporting small-scale farmers who the NGO identified as responsible for 80% of the country's entire agricultural output.
A 2017 Forbes report of richest Nigerians has Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Folorunsho Alakija and Theophilus Danjuma in the top 5.
