"Nigeria is not a poor country", President
Goodluck Jonathan declared earlier this month in response to a World
Bank report which listed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the
world. The claim is wrong and misleading.
A report from the World Bank in April listed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world, with the largest number of people said to live on less than $1.25 a day. The others are India, China, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report quickly drew criticism from Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, herself a former World Bank managing director. And in a speech in Abuja President Jonathan reportedly claimed that "Nigeria is not a poor country", adding that "our problem is not poverty, our problem is redistribution of wealth"
Africa Check examined the claims.
"Nigeria is not a poor country"
Wrong and misleading. President Jonathan's claim that "Nigeria is not a poor country" is wrong and misleading, correct only in the narrowest possible sense.
In raw terms, Nigeria's recently recalculated 2013 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 80 trillion naira, equivalent to around $510 billion, makes it the largest economy in Africa, well ahead of the $384 billion recorded by South Africa in 2012.
In the World Bank's latest ranking, Nigeria is the 27th largest economy in the world, ahead of Austria, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates. According to the African Economic Outlook, the country's economy grew at 7.4% in 2013 and will continue to post real growth rates of over 7% for 2014 and 2015.
However, given the huge number of people in Nigeria, that doesn't make either the population or the country wealthy. The World Bank still categorises Nigeria as lower middle income. The remark is therefore wrong and misleading.
"Our problem is not poverty, our problem is redistribution of wealth"
Partially correct. President Jonathan's somewhat loosely phrased point appears to be that while the Nigerian economy is sizeable, the distribution of income means there are many (and he appears to argue too many) living below the poverty line.
A report from the World Bank in April listed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world, with the largest number of people said to live on less than $1.25 a day. The others are India, China, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report quickly drew criticism from Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, herself a former World Bank managing director. And in a speech in Abuja President Jonathan reportedly claimed that "Nigeria is not a poor country", adding that "our problem is not poverty, our problem is redistribution of wealth"
Africa Check examined the claims.
"Nigeria is not a poor country"
Wrong and misleading. President Jonathan's claim that "Nigeria is not a poor country" is wrong and misleading, correct only in the narrowest possible sense.
In raw terms, Nigeria's recently recalculated 2013 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 80 trillion naira, equivalent to around $510 billion, makes it the largest economy in Africa, well ahead of the $384 billion recorded by South Africa in 2012.
In the World Bank's latest ranking, Nigeria is the 27th largest economy in the world, ahead of Austria, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates. According to the African Economic Outlook, the country's economy grew at 7.4% in 2013 and will continue to post real growth rates of over 7% for 2014 and 2015.
However, given the huge number of people in Nigeria, that doesn't make either the population or the country wealthy. The World Bank still categorises Nigeria as lower middle income. The remark is therefore wrong and misleading.
"Our problem is not poverty, our problem is redistribution of wealth"
Partially correct. President Jonathan's somewhat loosely phrased point appears to be that while the Nigerian economy is sizeable, the distribution of income means there are many (and he appears to argue too many) living below the poverty line.
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