A senior lecturer at Hussaini Adamu Polytechnic, Kazaure, Dr. Tijjani Ahmad, has agreed with the recent World Bank report that over 100 million Nigerians are still living below the poverty line, despite claims that the economy is now stable.

Speaking on Thursday in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, Dr. Ahmad explained that according to the World Bank’s definition, poverty is measured by people living below two dollars a day.

“If you look at the exchange rate in Nigeria today, two dollars is about ₦3,000. That means ₦3,000 a day or about ₦90,000 in a month,” he said.

He noted that most Nigerians do not earn up to that amount monthly.

“How many people are earning ₦90,000 in Nigeria? Even most employees don’t get that much. So, we can agree that around 60 percent of Nigerians are living below the poverty line,” he said.

Dr. Ahmad, who is also a Research Fellow at the African Centre for Tax and Governance, said that while Nigeria’s economic indicators may show signs of stability, the reality for ordinary citizens is different.

“If you look at the indices now, the economy appears stable, GDP is increasing, unemployment is reducing, the exchange rate is stabilizing, and inflation is improving compared to before,” he said.

“But these are at the macro level; the big picture. For that growth to reflect at the micro level, where ordinary Nigerians can feel it, it takes time.”

He explained that economic growth does not immediately translate into development.

“When we say growth, we mean the size of the economy, revenues, GDP, purchasing power. But development is when that growth begins to impact people’s lives,” he said.

“So, the economy might be growing, but people are not yet feeling the impact.”

Dr. Ahmad also pointed out that the northern region remains poorer compared to the southern part of Nigeria due to several social and economic factors.

“If you look at literacy level, school enrollment, and education, the North is still far behind. Most of our economic activities here are informal; trading, primary production unlike the South where there are more formal and service-based jobs,” he explained.

He added that the high dependency ratio in the North contributes to the problem.

“You can find one man with three or four wives and up to twenty or more children, and only one person is earning income for all of them. In the South, the family size is smaller, so poverty impact is less severe,” he said.

Speaking on the role of government policies, Dr. Ahmad said the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira were major factors that worsened poverty in the country.

“When the president removed the subsidy, there should have been immediate remedial measures to cushion the effect. The same thing with the exchange rate. it went from less than ₦1,000 to over ₦1,500. These two policies affected the economy and people’s living standards,” he said.

He also noted that the situation was compounded by debts and policies inherited from the previous administration.

“The last government printed more money than any other in the past forty years, and that weakened our currency. Our foreign reserves were depleted, and we kept borrowing. These are part of what led us here,” he added.

However, Dr. Ahmad maintained that the current administration is making efforts to reverse some of these trends.

“Even though subsidy cannot return, because Nigeria doesn’t have the capacity to fund it, the government is trying to stabilize things,” he said.

He concluded by saying that while Nigeria’s economy may show signs of progress, the gains will only be meaningful when they start improving people’s daily lives.