According the National Bureau of Statistics Poverty and Inequality Q2 Reports, poverty rate increased to 40.1%. This shows that over 80 million Nigerians live in poverty. This means that these Nigerians live on less than the $1 global poverty line.

There is no denying the fact that unemployment and poverty rate are directly related. The unemployment rate according to the Q2 report have recorded an all time high of 27.1%. It now appears as though the various empowerment schemes put up to curb unemployment such as the NPower which has over 500,000 beneficiaries have lived up to its expectations of curbing poverty through reducing unemployment.

IS THIS COMPLETELY TRUE?
The major cause of poverty in Nigeria despite the Npower and other empowerment schemes is the reduction in our purchasing power parity (PPP) coupled with its continuous devaluation of the Naira. For example, Mr. John earning #400 last year 2019 is better than Mr. James earning #450 now. This is due to the rise in inflation which reduces the goods and services our money can buy.

The Nigerian economy being a consuming economy has also being hit by the surge in foreign currencies like the dollar against the Naira, currently trading at over #400 in the black market due to pressures on foreign exchange demands. This have led the prices of imported goods to increase, eroding the purchasing powers of our money, making it difficult for Nigerians to afford the basic necessities of life which they could the previous year. This have made most Nigerians to live below the poverty line despite receiving wages from their underpaid jobs.

In simple sense, NGN480 in 2019 is now NGN350 in 2020. Given that wage rate remained constant, poverty sets in for those living at the 2019 break even of NGN480. This have made persons to live below the poverty line despite receiving wages from their underpaid employments.

Why Unemployment have increased
There are several reasons for this increase of unemployment rate to 27.1%. Common among them is the coronavirus pandemic which has slowed down business revenue. This have forced firms to lay off workers in order for the going concerns of the affected firms to be met. Firms have also not being recruiting this period due to the harsh economic reality posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

BusinessView reports, the failing security system in the North East have increased the unemployment rate in that region . This have made investors to pack out of the region thereby forcing their staff in that region to be left without jobs. In addition, the NPower scheme recently ended the contract of over 500,000 beneficiaries, many of whom are left with no source of livelihood. This added to the already high numbers of unemployed individuals in the Nigerien labour force. Another soothing reason is that there are jobs, but they are not enough. The supply of labour is more than the demands for them, even the few available jobs have being made fewer as the revenue of most firms drops during this trying times.


Nigeria unemployment rate trend
How it affects poverty rate
With the supply of labour greater than the demand, wage rates have dampened and led many Nigerians into underemployment which leaves them with little to fend for themselves, and with the inflation rate of over 12%, few of these individuals manage to beat the $1/day poverty line just to stay alive.

Worst yet to come to poverty rate
BusinessView forecasts that the poverty rate will eventually rise to 50% in the future. This stat is based on the under-funding of the educational sector, coupled with the incessant strikes by public university lecturers. Lecturers protesting over poor remunerations. Schools will churn out low quality graduates whose skills are unable to match the demands of the labour market. There will also be delays in graduation times for public university students, and in a country where employment is majorly age discriminatory, it only means that Nigeria as a nation is preparing her youths for unemployment which leads to poverty.

Analysts forecasts that by the end of the Q3, unemployment rate in Nigeria is expected to be 31.50 percent. According to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in Nigeria to stand at 31.90 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Nigeria Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 32.00% in 2021 and 32.50% in 2022

https://businessviewng.com/nigeria-poverty-rate-increases-despite-npower-empowerment-programs/

Those empowerment programs are empowering politicians only. How can governments want to empower people are politicians are fighting for slot? Next please . Lalasticlala come and see something.

Mide3367:
Those empowerment programs are empowering politicians only. How can governments want to empower people are politicians are fighting for slot? Next please . Lalasticlala come and see something.

Very pitiable

The thing is most people have mistaken the whole idea of the empowerment program and taken it to be a salary thing, hence they're not even investing or using it to empower themselves actually. But the smart ones have invested and are growing their businesses exponentially by accessing business loan facilities from online business accounts. You can also do so at https://on.fcmb.com/online-account-business3 .

So don't worry, many SMEs are coming up and sooner than later the poverty state of the nation will change.

Corroro:
The thing is most people have mistaken the whole idea of the empowerment program and taken it to be a salary thing, hence they're not even investing or using it to empower themselves actually. But the smart ones have invested and are growing their businesses exponentially by accessing business loan facilities from online business accounts. You can also do so at https://on.fcmb.com/online-account-business3 .

So don't worry, many SMEs are coming up and sooner than later the poverty state of the nation will change.

this na wetin just dey