82.9 million people in Nigeria are poor- NBS

The statistics of people living in poverty in Nigeria has reached 40%, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The report published by Statistician-General of the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics says 40% of people in the continent's most populous country lived below its poverty line of 137,430 naira ($381.75) a year.

This figure represents 82.9 million people.

Nigeria is the top oil exporter in Africa, which has helped to create wealth related to crude sales that account for more than half of government revenue. But a failure to diversify the economy and build much-needed transport and power infrastructure has stymied growth and the spread of wealth beyond a rich elite.

Rapid population growth outstrips economic growth, which stands at about 2%. The United Nations estimates that Nigeria will have a population of 400 million by 2050.

Nigeria was already struggling to shake off the effect of a 2016 recession before the new coronavirus pandemic hit economies worldwide.

"In Nigeria, 40.1% of total population were classified as poor. In other words, on average four out of 10 individuals in Nigeria has real per capita expenditures below 137,430 naira ($352) per year," it said.

The statistics office said it did not include Borno, the state worst hit by the decade-long Boko Haram armed uprising, because many areas there were not safe to reach.

A total of nearly eight million people need humanitarian assistance across Borno and two neighbouring states affected by the attacks, according to the UN.

The statistics office said 52% of people in rural areas live in poverty, compared with 18% in urban parts of the country.

It said the highest poverty levels were in the northwest state of Sokoto, where 87.7% of people live under the poverty line compared with 4.5% in commercial hub Lagos state, which had the lowest rate.