Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has blamed Nigeria’s deepening poverty crisis on decades of poor leadership, stating that the country now has more people living in poverty than China, Indonesia, and Vietnam combined.
Obi made the assertion during a lecture titled “Politics and Change in Nigeria” delivered at Johns Hopkins University in the United States on Thursday. The event was hosted by Professor Peter Lewis, author of the acclaimed comparative study Growing Apart: Comparing Indonesia and Nigeria.
In a series of posts shared on his verified X handle on Friday, the former Anambra State governor lamented Nigeria’s retrogression in development indicators compared to its peers.
“In 1990, Nigeria, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam were all ranked under the medium category in the Human Development Index (HDI). Today, all three countries have advanced into the high HDI category, while Nigeria has slipped into the low category,” Obi said.
Citing economic statistics, Obi explained that Nigeria’s GDP per capita has significantly underperformed. “Currently, Nigeria’s GDP per capita is around $1,300—just one-fifth of Indonesia’s at $5,000, one-fourth of Vietnam’s at $4,400, and less than a tenth of China’s,” he stated.
He highlighted that in 1990, Nigeria had the lowest number of people living in poverty among the four nations. “At the time, China had 750 million people in poverty, Indonesia had 85 million, and Vietnam had 60 million. Nigeria had the least. Today, however, Nigeria has overtaken them all, and now has more poor people than the three countries combined,” Obi said.
He argued that the root of Nigeria’s economic and social stagnation lies in the absence of competent and compassionate political leadership.
READ ALSO: Peter Obi Condemns Transactional Politics, Youth Exploitation in Nigeria
“Leadership makes all the difference,” he said. “Nations that have grown and developed sustainably did so through visionary leadership that prioritised investments in education, health, and poverty alleviation. Nigeria, on the other hand, has failed to harness its vast potential due to decades of governance failure.”
Obi stressed the need for urgent reforms driven by leaders with “character, competence, and capacity.”
His remarks come against the backdrop of a recent World Bank report which warned that more Nigerians will fall below the poverty line by 2027 despite the country’s abundance of natural and human resources.
The Africa Pulse report, released at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington D.C., highlighted sub-Saharan Africa as having the highest concentration of extreme poverty globally—with Nigeria among the worst-hit.
The report adds to growing concerns over the country’s economic trajectory and the increasing hardship faced by millions of citizens.