The Poverty Line

The CIA world factbook page on Nigeria states that 70% of its citizens live below the poverty line and this was the topic of an early morning argument with one of my colleagues who argued that its impossible for anybody to survive on less than $1 per day and that such foreign reports are ploys to continuously paint Nigeria and Nigerians as poor and undernourished creatures. Becuase of the location of the argument(the office) and her discipline(Philosophy) we really couldn't argue it out, so I'm writing this post so as to have something to refer her to.

So to the question 'is the level of poverty in Nigeria that high? and do people survive on less than a dollar?'

The assumed population figure for Nigeria according to the 2006 census is 140 million though the US censors board thinks its actually above 150 million but since the US censors board is a 'foreign body' we would go with the 2006 result. 70% of 140 million is 98 million and while I might agree with my friend that I don't think the below the poverty line numbers is that much, I wouldn't so totally jump in with her to say it only portends 'bad belle' from the CIA it would just signify a flaw in their calculation algoritm since they would have based their result by calculating total population against total declared income after the fiscal year, revenues which are broadly from oil and taxes/royalities and since we(Nigerians) know of Nigeria's weak public management policy its easy to see the flaw.

But are there people who survive on less than a dollar?

The first example that jumps to my mind is the ever present traffic jam hawker who sells refreshments when my friend is cruising home in her air-conditioned car. How much does he make? what is his mark-up on the goods? and like she herself knows what he makes depends on the quantity sold. There are civil employees who are still been paid the minimum wage(7500) here in Nigeria and they have to cater to their family. How much does a police officer make? how much does a cobbler make? an electrician? By the time they spread their entire earnings over a 30 day period and find the mean, that poverty line number starts looking
realistic. To cap it off the Senior Special Assistant to the President and National Coordinator, National Poverty Eradication Programme, Magnus Kpakol said "Some 75 million Nigerians are poor but the government is determined to reduce the poverty line, so that by 2020, only 20 per cent of the citizens will be poor" and his defination of poor? "Accordance to the 2004 living standard survey, a poor person is one who cannot afford to spend a threshold amount of N65 per day".

To my friend, their are poor people in Nigeria, very very poor people, lets just be grateful we were spared.