A new report by Oxfam International has revealed that the combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest persons can end extreme poverty in the country.
The report titled “Inequality in Nigeria, Exploring the Drivers” which puts the estimated combined worth of the five wealthiest Nigerians at about $29.9 billion pointed out the larger gap between the rich and the poor in the Nigerian economic setting.
The report listed the five wealthiest Nigerians to include Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Folorunsho Alakija and Theophilus Danjuma adding that the richest man in the country, Aliko Dangote earns as much as 8,000 times more in one day than a poor Nigerian would spend on basic needs in a year.
The report which noted that “the benefits of the nation’s economic growth had been captured by a few wealthy elite at the expense of the ordinary Nigerians” further cited the economic inequality rampant in the country as a key factor in the conflict in the north-eastern part of Nigeria.
The report by Oxfam International comes following the latest poverty report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, which noted that about 112 million Nigerians, representing as much as 67.1 per cent of the country’s total population live below poverty level.
The bureau in its latest report furthe noted that the rising trend of poverty level in the country is likely to continue.
Oxfam in its report further disclosed that public office holders in the country stole an estimated $20 trillion from the nation’s treasury between 1960 and 2005 with multinational companies quoted to have receive tax incentives worth an estimate of $2.9 billion a year.