The persistent rise in poverty levels among Nigerians continues to expose the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s (retired) administration to rejuvenate the economy. The recently released 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed a grim reality: 133 million Nigerians, accounting for 62.9 percent of the population, are living in poverty. This widespread suffering is fueled by insecurity, energy shortages, and economic hardship. Faced with these harsh realities, Buhari and his administration must abandon their state of denial and implement practical strategies to combat the alarming poverty crisis.

The NBS report encapsulates the grim experiences endured by millions of Nigerians. Evaluating factors such as health, education, living standards, security, and unemployment, the MPI report highlights that many Nigerians are “multidimensionally poor” and rely on dung, wood, or charcoal for cooking instead of clean energy. Additionally, the report identified significant deprivations across the country in areas like sanitation, healthcare, food security, and housing.

The survey, conducted between November 2021 and February 2022, gathered data from 56,000 households across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The findings revealed that while poverty affects the entire nation, rural residents, women, and children suffer the most. Among children aged 0-17, 67.5 percent are identified as multidimensionally poor, and 51 percent of Nigeria’s impoverished population consists of children. Geographic disparities are also pronounced, with poverty most prevalent in rural areas, where 90 percent of children live in poverty. Seventy-two percent of rural dwellers are poor, compared to 42 percent in urban areas.

Regionally, the North bears the brunt of this multidimensional poverty: 76.5 percent in the North-East, 75.8 percent in the North-West, and 66.3 percent in the North-Central. In the South-South region, 62.6 percent of residents are poor. Even the lower poverty rates in the South-East (49 percent) and South-West (40 percent) surpass the international poverty threshold of 26 percent.

The causes of poverty are well known, and solutions have been repeatedly proposed. Unfortunately, Buhari’s administration has maintained policies that are misdirected, ineffective, and fail to address the fundamental issues holding back productivity and job creation. Moreover, state governors exacerbate the problem with centralized governance systems that are plagued by corruption, waste, and incompetence. These issues prevent the development of independent economic plans aimed at fostering self-reliance, private investment, and job creation.

Buhari’s 2019 pledge to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030—targeting 10 million people per year—now rings hollow. In 2018, Nigeria surpassed India as the world’s poverty capital, with 87 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty. By early 2022, that number had grown to 95.1 million. The World Bank reported that three million more Nigerians fell into extreme poverty between January and September 2022, and forecasts suggest that around seven million more may slip into poverty by year-end. While the Buhari administration introduced programs like the National Social Investment Programme (which includes N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, TraderMoni, and the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme), these efforts have failed to curb the rising tide of poverty.

Poor implementation and the absence of a reliable national database have hampered the effectiveness of these initiatives. For instance, the government claimed it distributed $300 million to 10 million households between 2018 and 2022 (at N5,000 per month per household), yet the poverty situation has not improved significantly. The unemployment rate currently stands at 33.3 percent and is projected to reach 40 percent by the end of the year. Unemployment is particularly severe among youth, with an estimated 53.4 percent jobless rate.

Although external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, global market turbulence, floods, and insecurity have played a role in exacerbating poverty, Nigeria’s policy choices are compounding the problem. Oxfam has pointed out that poverty and inequality in Nigeria are not caused by a lack of resources but by their misallocation, misuse, and mismanagement.

To avert a grim future, where Nigeria could host 25 percent of the world’s poor, Buhari and state governors must take decisive action. Experts recommend aggressive and sustained economic programs that provide basic healthcare, education, job access, and sanitation. Empowering the poor, promoting entrepreneurship, and embracing technology are also critical steps.

Countries like Ghana, Norway, Singapore, Bolivia, and South Korea have successfully reduced poverty through investment in education, export promotion, diversification, and private sector development. China’s efforts to lift 800 million people out of poverty over three decades are credited to sustained economic growth, beginning with agriculture, industrialization, infrastructure, and social policies focused on job creation and innovation.

Nigeria must urgently adopt similar measures, including transparent and efficient privatization, improved ease of doing business, and policies that promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), agriculture, mining, and technology. Reforming the country’s revenue and tax collection system is also essential.

In addition, corruption must be curtailed, and emphasis placed on delivering critical infrastructure like roads, water, and education facilities. Both federal and state governments should actively seek investments—domestic and foreign—particularly in sectors like railways, power, ports, airports, agriculture, and manufacturing. The persistent energy crisis also needs to be resolved, and the cost of governance should be slashed to free up resources for social investment. Insecurity, a significant barrier to development, must be decisively addressed. State governments should prioritize rural infrastructure, develop independent economic programs centered on agriculture and private investment, and focus on job creation and exports. Until these measures are taken, the poverty crisis will continue to deepen.