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Sluggish economic growth, low human capital, labour market weaknesses, and exposure to shocks are holding Nigeria’s poverty reduction back, according to a new World Bank report “A Better Future for All Nigerians: Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022”.

The report says as many as 4 in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line. Many Nigerians – especially in the country’s north – also lack education and access to basic infrastructure, such as electricity, safe drinking water, and improved sanitation. The report further notes that jobs do not translate Nigerians’ hard work into an exit from poverty, as most workers are engaged in small-scale household farm and non-farm enterprises; just 17 percent of Nigerian workers hold the wage jobs best able to lift people out of poverty.

The report adds that climate and conflict shocks – which disproportionately affect Nigeria’s poor – are multiplying, and their effects have been compounded by COVID-19; yet government support for households is scant.

The report suggests three types of deep, long-term reforms to foster and sustain pro-poor growth and raise Nigerians out of poverty: one, macroeconomic reforms (including fiscal, trade, and exchange rate policy); two, policies to boost the productivity of farm and non-farm household enterprises; and three, improving access to electricity, water, and sanitation while bolstering information and communication technologies.