The former vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, Peter Obi has said that Nigeria will have 110million poor people by the end of 2020.
He disclosed this on Friday in Awka, the Anambra State capital during a PDP Southeast Summit ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“Your country is drifting, it is collapsing. And if you don’t do anything, it will set its revenge on you,” Obi said.
“The World Bank released a report, go and read that report. This year alone, 11 million Nigerians will fall into poverty.
“The 11 million is on top of the 100 million that is already there. That means by the end of this year, Nigeria will have over 110 million people living in poverty. It is important to know that of this 11 million person falling into poverty, eight million are youths.”
On his party, PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus called on the youths to be creative and innovative, adding that power rests on them
According to the opposition, the party leadership has created a policy to initiate policies that will empower the young Nigerians.
In the World Bank’s report, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could increase Nigeria’s poverty rate by as much as 15 to 20 million by 2022.
The latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update report tagged “rising to the challenge: Nigeria’s COVID response” stated that 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.
According to the bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, if there are no measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis, the economy could shrink up to 4 percent in 2020 following the twin shocks of COVID-19 and low oil prices.
“Nigeria is at a critical historical juncture, with a choice to make. Nigeria can choose to break decisively from business-as-usual and rise to its considerable potential by sustaining the bold reforms that have been taken thus far and going even further and with an even greater sense of urgency to promote faster and more inclusive economic growth.”
