100 Million Nigerians Live Below Poverty Line –Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said that more than 100 million Nigerians, a staggering 53.5% of the country’s population is living in poverty.

The billionaire presenting a paper titled: ‘Promotion Of Local Manufacturing And Poverty Reduction In Nigeria: The Private Sector Experience And Policy Options’ at the Executive Course No. 38, 2016 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Plateau State, also expressed his sadness at the state of things given the vast resources in the nation.

“It is estimated that more than 100 million out of a population of 187 million Nigerians live below the poverty line.

Dangote also linked the situation to major security challenges the country is faced with at the moment: “The spate of kidnappings, intermittent vandalism of petroleum pipelines in the Niger Delta, and the protracted insurgency in the North-East are all fuelled, to a large extent, by the high level of endemic poverty in the country.

“Coupled with this, the activities of insurgents in the North-East have also affected the level of poverty in that part of the country. It is estimated that there are over 2.4 million Internally Displaced Persons in the region. It will take billions of naira to rebuild the North-East and fully re-settle the victims of the insurgency.”