President Goodluck Jonathan has denied reports that the country’s poverty rate stands at 60%, which according to him, is being rumored by some people.
Disputing the reports, President Jonathan said the country’s poverty rate still remains at 33.1% as announced in a report released in July 2014 by the World Bank.
He, however, said the issue was not about the percentage of poverty rate, but about his administration’s determination to positively impact more on the citizens’ lives.
The president made this known at a programmed tagged “An Unimaginable Feat in Sports” organized in Lagos to showcase his government’s achievements in the sports sector.
He also pledged to end corruption in the oil sector if re-elected, noting however that corruption was being over-celebrated in Nigeria as if the whole country was corrupt.
“People talk about the oil industry because that’s an industry with a lot of people and a lot of money is involved. But I promise you that in the next four years, we’ll sanitize the oil sector”, he said.
The event, which ended in the wee hours of Monday, was attended by sportsmen and women, young professionals and beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s scholarship schemes.
Poverty still remains significant at 33.1% in Africa’s biggest economy according to President Jonathan, but for a country like Nigeria with massive wealth and a huge population to support commerce, the level of poverty seems to be unacceptable by many.
