{"id":24908,"date":"2025-04-27T14:54:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T14:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=24908"},"modified":"2025-04-27T14:55:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T14:55:00","slug":"nigerias-poverty-crisis-a-national-disgrace-actionaid-slams-government-inaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=24908","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria’s Poverty Crisis a ‘National Disgrace’ \u2013 ActionAid Slams Government Inaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mustapha Muhammad <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ActionAid Nigeria has criticized the Federal Government for its failure to tackle the deepening poverty crisis, calling the situation a \u201cnational disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rebuke follows the World Bank\u2019s Africa\u2019s Pulse report, which predicts Nigeria\u2019s poverty rate will rise by 3.6 percentage points by 2027, with 106 million Nigerians surviving on less than $2.15 a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also notes that Nigeria accounts for 15% of the world\u2019s extreme poor\u2014a grim statistic for Africa\u2019s largest economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Mamedu, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, said this in a statement released on Saturday in Abuja. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He blamed the crisis on deliberate policy choices, persistent governance failures, and systemic corruption at all levels of government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNigeria\u2019s governance remains its greatest challenge,\u201d Mamedu said, pointing to the World Bank\u2019s findings that the country scores poorly on government effectiveness, accountability, and political stability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He criticized leaders for \u201cprioritizing luxury over lives,\u201d citing extravagant budgets for SUVs and office renovationswhile millions suffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamedu also took aim at President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration, accusing it of \u201cavoiding meaningful reforms\u201d and relying on empty \u201csocial protection rhetoric\u201d instead of tackling poverty\u2019s root causes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further warned of Nigeria\u2019s shrinking civic space, where activists and critics face intimidation, silencing, or detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without urgent action, he cautioned, Nigeria risks becoming the\u201cglobal capital of extreme poverty,\u201d fueling mass migration and instability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ActionAid urged citizens to demand accountability and pushed for sweeping reforms, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Expanding social protection programs <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Boosting support for smallholder farmers <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Cutting wasteful government spending <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Enacting people-centered economic policies <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Protecting civic freedoms <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Improving education and infrastructure <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe time to be silent has passed,\u201d Mamedu declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNigeria must prioritize the needs of its most vulnerable citizens to reverse this dangerous trend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mustapha Muhammad ActionAid Nigeria has criticized the Federal Government for its failure to tackle the deepening poverty crisis, calling the situation a \u201cnational disgrace.\u201d The rebuke follows the World Bank\u2019s Africa\u2019s Pulse report, which predicts Nigeria\u2019s poverty rate will rise by 3.6 percentage points by 2027, with 106 million Nigerians surviving on less than $2.15 a day. The report also notes that Nigeria accounts for 15% of the world\u2019s extreme poor\u2014a grim statistic for Africa\u2019s largest economy. Andrew Mamedu, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, said this in a statement released on Saturday in Abuja. He blamed the crisis on deliberate policy choices, persistent governance failures, and systemic corruption at all levels of government. \u201cNigeria\u2019s governance remains its greatest challenge,\u201d Mamedu said, pointing to the World Bank\u2019s findings that the country scores poorly on government effectiveness, accountability, and political stability. He criticized leaders for \u201cprioritizing luxury over lives,\u201d citing extravagant budgets for SUVs and office renovationswhile millions suffer. Mamedu also took aim at President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration, accusing it of \u201cavoiding meaningful reforms\u201d and relying on empty \u201csocial protection rhetoric\u201d instead of tackling poverty\u2019s root causes. He further warned of Nigeria\u2019s shrinking civic space, where activists and critics face intimidation, silencing, or detention. Without urgent action, he cautioned, Nigeria risks becoming the\u201cglobal capital of extreme poverty,\u201d fueling mass migration and instability. ActionAid urged citizens to demand accountability and pushed for sweeping reforms, including: – Expanding social protection programs – Boosting support for smallholder farmers – Cutting wasteful government spending – Enacting people-centered economic policies – Protecting civic freedoms – Improving education and infrastructure \u201cThe time to be silent has passed,\u201d Mamedu declared. \u201cNigeria must prioritize the needs of its most vulnerable citizens to reverse this dangerous trend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24910,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24908\/revisions\/24910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}