The World Bank in its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU), has said that more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty.

The report titled ‘Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,’ World Bank said about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty.

The Washington-based institution also said the country needs to create productive jobs to reduce poverty.

“Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria,” the World Bank said.

“More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power brought about by inflation.

“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 per cent to 56.0 per cent.

“Combined with population growth, this means that some 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016.

“The COVID-19 pandemic compounded this drop in economic activity. Moreover, growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power.”

The World Bank also said poverty reflects the non-inclusive structure of growth.

According to the World Bank, the  best way to share the proceeds of growth is through jobs, however, employment is not enough to lift people out of poverty.

“Even when GDP was expanding more rapidly in the early 2010s, richer households benefited more. Jobs hold the key to sharing the proceeds of growth,” the Bretton Woods institution said.

“However, employment on its own is not enough to lift people out of poverty: Nigeria needs productive jobs, but these are scarce.

“Many jobs are not productive and therefore remunerative enough to afford a life beyond poverty.

“In Nigeria, as in many countries, high employment and high poverty coexist. In-work poverty is common as many jobs do not generate earnings that are high enough to escape poverty.

“Low incomes are symptomatic of low productivity jobs. Nigeria’s labor market is changing – with employment shifting from agriculture to services – but these changes are not increasing overall productivity and living standards, because many of the new service-sector jobs are in low-productivity sub-sectors like retail and wholesale trade.

“Sustained poverty reduction depends on creating wage jobs through macro-fiscal stability, growth, and private sector development, complemented by building human capital.”

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised the alarm over the dangers of cybercrime, saying Nigeria lost over $500 million to it in 2022.

Ola Olukoyede, chairman, EFCC, who spoke on Tuesday at a  National Cybercrime Summit organised by his agency, said that “Projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrimes may reach a staggering $10.5 trillion,” the EFCC chief said in Abuja.

“As a matter of fact, the research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third largest GDP in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily.

“The implication of all this is that if left unchecked, cybercrimes portend grave dangers to the entire world. Bringing it to Nigeria, in 2022 alone, Nigeria lost over $500 million to cybercrime.”

He said cybercrime accounts for a significant percent of the convictions recorded by the agency since his one year of resuming as the chairman of the EFCC.

“These are the realities stalking the Commission’s fight against these crimes,” he said. “Cybercrime accounts for a significant percentage of the 3,455 convictions recorded by EFCC in my one year as the Executive Chairman of EFCC.”

But Olukoyede said there are plans to rechannel the energies of young people who are mostly perpetrators of cybercrime.

“First, there is an alternative of creative and innovative development of socially beneficial applications that can deliver better prospects than internet fraud,” he told the gathering.

“Today’s event is tailored towards exposing young Nigerians with strong tech skills to the opportunities that are bound in various industries and sectors for legitimate wealth, creation, and honest livelihood.

“These opportunities can be found in the creative industry, tech, ecosystem, financial services sector, medical services, and even law enforcement, your lens.”

Career and entrepreneurship accelerator, ALX Africa, furthered the course for innovative products creation by recently organizing an exclusive product management masterclass for its community members, further cementing its position as a leading tech accelerator on the continent.

The masterclass was designed for learners on the ALX Founders Academy. This comprehensive entrepreneurship program offers participants insights and tools to ideate, develop, and validate their innovative ideas into viable businesses.

The programme engages a vibrant community of peers who gain insights from successful African startup founders with live masterclasses such as this.

The master in this case, Chidi Afulezi, a product specialist, founder, and Managing Principal of redKola Digital Labs, led the session with an in-depth look into the key principles of product development and management.

Emphasizing the importance of discovering and validating the problems and crafting solutions that align with the needs and opportunities of the market.

“Entrepreneurs need to fall in love with the problem they are trying to solve. The entrepreneur’s journey is one of discovery. Discovering the problem, discovering the customers that have these problems, and discovering the solutions to the problem. With this discovery, they can build a product that is viable, feasible, and valuable.” Chidi remarked.

Reflecting on the event, Country General Manager, ALX Nigeria, Ruby Igwe said, “We organize impactful sessions like this masterclass to inspire our learners and give them the tools they need to succeed. Our goal is to ensure that they are equipped with the best resources and knowledge to create products that will shape the future of Africa’s economy.”

ALX Founder Academy has contributed to the success stories of many African startups, including Aquatrack, Luna, and Healthtracka, a digital health platform that raised $1.5m in 2022.