Nigeria Now the World’s Second Largest Population of the Poor – 89 Million Citizens Living Below the Poverty Line. Nigeria, Africa’s self-proclaimed giant, is groaning under the weight of shameful statistics.
Yemi Kale, former head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has delivered a truth too bitter to ignore: no fewer than 89 million Nigerians – representing about 40 percent of the nation’s population – are trapped in poverty. This staggering figure confirms Nigeria as the country with the second largest population of poor people in the world.
For a nation blessed with abundant oil, fertile land, and a vibrant population, this is not only an indictment on leadership but a tragedy of governance that exposes decades of waste, misrule, and corruption.
POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY:
That Nigeria has become a land of hunger despite its riches is no accident. It is the direct product of a ruling elite who govern not for the people but for themselves. From the federal corridors of Abuja to the state governments in Lagos and beyond, the people’s welfare has been relegated to the dustbin of history.
The poverty numbers are not abstract. They are felt daily on the streets:
The mechanic who cannot feed his family despite working from dawn to dusk.
The market woman who sells tomatoes but cannot afford meat.
The young graduate roaming the streets with a certificate but no job.
The children, millions of them, who drop out of school because their parents cannot pay basic fees.
This is the real face of Nigeria – not the shining billboards of politicians boasting of phantom achievements.
APC GOVERNMENT AND THE LEGACY OF FAILURE:
For over 20 years in Lagos and nearly a decade at the federal level, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has ruled with promises of prosperity while delivering despair. The ruling class has weaponized poverty, keeping the masses too weak, too divided, and too hungry to resist exploitation.
Instead of building industries, they build personal empires. Instead of empowering people with jobs, they multiply taxes, levies, and tolls. Instead of solving the energy crisis, they chase foreign loans to finance white elephant projects that never see completion.
While Lagos brags about being “the economic capital of West Africa,” millions of its residents live in shanties, commute in keke and danfos unfit for humans, and work with little to no social protection. Is this the prosperity Lagos and Nigeria were promised?
THE COST OF POVERTY: A THREAT TO NATIONAL SURVIVAL
A nation where 89 million live in poverty cannot be stable. Poverty breeds crime, fuels insecurity, and destroys hope. It weakens families, kills dreams, and undermines democracy. No nation can grow when almost half its citizens live in deprivation. Nigeria’s tragedy is not just poverty – it is poverty amidst wealth. Oil dollars flow, taxes are collected, but the people remain in chains of want.
ADP LAGOS: GIVING VOICE TO THE VOICELESS
As the opposition mouthpiece of the people, ADP Lagos refuses to stay silent in the face of this monumental injustice. Our mission is to expose the failure of a government that has lost touch with reality and to offer a credible alternative – a people-first government where the welfare of citizens is not an afterthought but the foundation of governance.
We stand for:
Welfare Before Wealth – investing in people through education, healthcare, and social security.
Jobs and Dignity – empowering youth with skills and industries that pay, not endless token palliatives.
Affordable Living – ending the APC culture of multiple taxes and levies that bleed Lagosians dry.
Social Safety Nets – ensuring that no Nigerian is abandoned to hunger, homelessness, or hopelessness.
NIGERIANS DESERVE BETTER:
The shame of being the world’s second-largest population of poor people should awaken every citizen. Nigeria is not poor; Nigeria is poorly governed. Nigerians are not lazy; Nigerians are abandoned by leaders who thrive on their suffering.
ADP Lagos calls on the people to rise with courage and demand change – not cosmetic change, but of welfare improvements, accountability, and people-centered governance. History will not forgive a generation that allows poverty to become destiny. We can no longer allow leaders to enrich themselves while the nation drowns in hunger.
THE TIME IS NOW:
ADP Lagos stands firm:
Poverty is not inevitable. Poverty is created by policies, and Poverty can be defeated by justice, fairness, and responsible governance.
To the 89 million poor Nigerians, hear this: you are not powerless, you are not voiceless. Together, with determination and unity, we can reclaim Nigeria from the grip of an elite that feeds fat on our suffering.
The opposition must not be silenced. ADP Lagos will continue to be the people’s voice, the defender of hope, and the herald of a new Nigeria – where no child goes to bed hungry, no youth roams the streets jobless, and no mother weeps because she cannot afford healthcare.
Nigeria deserves better. Lagos deserves better. The people deserve better.
ADP Lagos Media & Communications
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