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Presidency slams World Bank’s 139 million poverty estimate as ‘unrealistic’

Tinubu

THE Presidency has dismissed a World Bank report estimating that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty, calling the figure “unrealistic” and disconnected from the country’s economic realities.

The report, based on a global poverty line of $2.15 per day set in 2017 using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), was challenged by President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, in a statement posted on X on Wednesday.

“While Nigeria values its partnership with the World Bank, the figure quoted must be properly contextualised. It is unrealistic,” Dare said, emphasising that the $2.15 benchmark, equivalent to about N100,000 monthly at current exchange rates, exceeds Nigeria’s new minimum wage of N70,000. He argued that the estimate, derived from 2018/19 consumption data, fails to account for Nigeria’s informal and subsistence economies that sustain millions.

The Presidency clarified that the World Bank’s figure is a “modelled global projection, not an empirical representation of conditions in 2025.”

Dare stressed that Nigeria’s economic trajectory is one of recovery, driven by inclusive reforms and social welfare programs.

Key initiatives include expanded Conditional Cash Transfers reaching 15 million households with over N297 billion disbursed since 2023, the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme targeting all 8,809 electoral wards, and strengthened National Social Investment Programmes like N-Power and GEEP micro-loans.

Additional efforts involve food security measures, such as subsidised grains and fertilisers, and the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund to boost employment and lower living costs.

The government highlighted its commitment to tackling structural barriers to productivity and inclusive growth, ensuring long-term prosperity for Nigerians. “What truly matters is the trajectory, and Nigeria’s is now one of recovery and reform,” Dare concluded.