Poor Nigerians Will Reach 100 Million By 2022 – World Bank.
The World Bank on Thursday, projected that the number of poor Nigerians will increase from the current 90 million to about 100 million by 2022 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy.
In addition to that, it stated that Nigeria may experience its worst recession in 20 years.
It, however, advised that it was critical to sustain and deepen its reforms to avoid the worsening impact of COVID-19 on the economy.
Part of the report read, “In the next three years, an average Nigerian could see a reversal of decades of economic growth and the country could enter its deepest recession since the 1980s.
“The latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update argues that this path could be avoided if progress in the current reforms is sustained and the right mix of policy measures is implemented.”
It added that the report “Rising to the challenge: Nigeria’s COVID response,” took stock on the recently implemented reforms and proposed policy options to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and foster a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive recovery.
Marco further disclosed that; “With the COVID-19, the recession is likely to push an additional 6.6 million Nigerians into poverty in 2020, bringing the total newly poor to 8.6 million this year. This implies an increase in the total number of poor Nigerians from about 90 million in 2020, to about 100 million in 2022. Northern states are more likely to be affected”.
