Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

No, this is not from The Onion. Nor is it from April first.

Nigeria's Minister of Finance denies that the large number of poor people in Nigeria makes the country an "extremely poor nation." A new method of fighting poverty.

World Bank Lists Nigeria Among ‘Extreme Poor Nations,’ But Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala Attempts To Redefine Poverty

[T]he World Bank, yesterday classified… Nigeria, in the “extreme poor nation’’ category, but Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, deflected that rating today, saying it was based only on the large population of the poor.

She implied that Nigeria was rich, but for its poor.

In Washington on Wednesday, Dr Jim Kim... classified Nigeria among the world’s extremely poor countries…

Okonjo-Iweala

In Abuja today, Okonjo-Iweala shrugged off the analysis, arguing that the number of poor people in a country irrespective of the country’s level of development was the parameter used to rate Nigeria among nations with high poverty level…

According to Okonjo-Iweala… there is no reason to single Nigeria out because the country is growing and there are poor people everywhere [in other countries]…

She ignored the normal criticism concerning why Nigeria, with massive potential and resources many developing countries lack, find development difficult because of the heavy burden of corruption and mismanagement that are anchored by people at the top.