With Combined Wealth Of $20.1bn, Dangote, Adenuga Can Lift 63 Million Nigerians Out Of Poverty

With a combined wealth of about $20.1bn, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and Chairman of Globacom Mr Mike Adenuga, have been discovered to be richer that 63 million Nigerians put together.

This is based on a report released by Oxfam in Nigeria, which states that the wealth of three Nigerian billionaires increased by $6.9bn during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020.

The report titled: “Inequality kills,” was presented to the public by Oxfam in Nigeria Project Manager, Henry Ushie, ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda in Switzerland.

Collectively, the total wealth of the three billionaires in Nigeria was put at $24.9bn, the report stated.

The top three Nigerian billionaires are Dangote with net worth of $13.6bn, Adenuga $6.5bn and Chairman of BUA Group Rabiu Abdulsamad who has a net worth of $4.8bn.

The report stated that while the wealth of billionaires in Nigeria rose by 38.3 per cent during the corona virus pandemic, about 7.4 million people were estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020

About 40 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, which represents nearly 83 million people who are living with less than $1.9 per day and highly vulnerable to shocks.

Past experience has shown that strong economic growth by itself, while necessary, is not sufficient to reduce poverty significantly.

Experts have said that growth must be inclusive and gender sensitive and the poverty reduction programme must have elements of redistribution.

They contend that these vulnerable groups of Nigerians need social protection to lift them out of poverty.

According to them, many challenges had plagued existing poverty alleviation programmes.

Some of these challenges are weak transparency and accountability in funds management and disbursement; weak calibration and identification of target beneficiaries; and insufficient program coordination at federal and state levels.

Others are limited organizational capacity to scale up interventions; unsustainable funding sources limiting the reach of these programs; limited funds to operationalize programs due to insufficient budgetary release; and insufficient capacity to implement distributive policies.

There are also the challenges of the disruptions associated with the politicization of poverty reduction efforts; and the lack of training facilities to address capacity building on social protection

The Country Director of Oxfam in Nigeria, Dr. Vincent Ahonsi, while commenting on the Report expressed disappointment about the widening rate of income inequality.

He said, “It is disappointing that the two richest billionaires in Nigeria have more wealth than the bottom 63 million Nigerians. It is about time we begin to correct these extreme inequalities.

“Collectively, the total wealth of the three billionaires in Nigeria equals $24.9bn and throughout the pandemic (beginning in mid-March 2020), their wealth increased $6.9bn while the majority of Nigerians are poorer.

“It is a remarkable surge in wealth at the very top of the society, which has not impacted positively on the majority.”

He added that as the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social-economic distress impact more on the families, women and girls now face unprecedented risk of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and violence.

“It is now a moral burden on billionaires to invest more on social goods including water and sanitation, education, food security, health and social infrastructure as part of their corporate social responsibilities for a just post-pandemic recovery.

“We can end inequality and it is a moral duty for the billionaires and corporations to play their part to end hunger, disease and poverty,” he added.

According to the Oxfam Report, inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day or one person every four seconds.

“This is a conservative finding based on deaths globally from lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger and climate breakdown,” Oxfam in Nigeria said in the report.

Globally, the report said 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700bn to $1.5trn at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3bn a day during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 per cent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty.

It noted that billionaires’ wealth has risen more since COVID-19 began than it has in the last 14 years with a new billionaire minted every 26 hours, as inequality contributes to the death of one person every four seconds.