THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE POOR AND VULNERABLE CITIZENS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION IN NIGERIA
Background
In Nigeria, poverty is ubiquitous and has become a major development problem. The World Poverty Clock Report published 2018 shows that Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world. The poverty ratio has been exacerbated by the impact of climate change due to increasing vulnerability and risks posed to the population. Statistics show that almost half of the population, 86.9 million Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty from the 200 million.
The World Bank report states that from the 122million Nigerians in the working age bracket only 31 million Nigerians are employed, an abysmal figure denoting that only one out of every four Nigerians are employed. The primary responsibility of the state which is provision of security and welfare has been threatened. Successive governments struggle to lift more citizens out of extreme poverty have been largely unsuccessful due to poor planning and mismanagement of resources.
This development already threatens the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which targets ending extreme poverty and the elimination of hunger by 2030.
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