World Poverty Day: Why Nigeria Should Have Declared Today a Public Holiday
Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Sadly, Nigeria has become a symbol of the global poverty crisis. The rising poverty rate, from 40.1 per cent in 2019 to 56.2 per cent in 2023 and an estimated 63 per cent in 2026, shows how a country can move progressively backwards while those in authority appear unconcerned.
Millions of Nigerians are now struggling to live, to afford food, and access healthcare. Yet, government narratives often paint a different picture. What meaning does economic growth have when citizens are getting poorer, hungrier, and more insecure? Progress must be measured by improvements in people’s lives.
As poverty deepens, the government should genuinely show concern. Perhaps today should have been declared a public holiday, not for celebration, but for national reflection on how a country so richly endowed with human and natural resources has allowed poverty to overcome it.
Poverty is not Nigeria’s destiny. With competent leadership, prudent management of public resources, investment in education and healthcare, and support for agriculture and small businesses, we can reverse this trend.
A new Nigeria where no citizen goes to bed hungry and where every citizen lives in dignity is POssible and OK. -PO
Education Is the Foundation of a New Nigeria
Education remains the most important tool for development and nation-building. It has been proven that the more educated a nation is, the better it develops. It has also been proven that the developing and developed nations of today are those that have invested in education, healthcare and pulling people out of poverty.
Nigeria’s increasing poverty remains a consequence of not investing adequately in critical areas of development, especially education.
Today, while observing the International Day of Rural Women, I visited Sheda and Sheda Galadima, in Kwali Area Council of FCT, where I was surprised to see a huge number of school-age children in the market environs on a school day.
In my conversation with the children, I was deeply shocked to learn that they had been at home for over two weeks due to the teachers’ strike.
So, while we are busy inaugurating campaign councils with pomp and pageantry and declaring economic miracles, our young children of school age are loitering in the streets because of a strike, in a nation with already over 18 million out-of-school children.
It is time to put our children and the future of our country back at the centre of governance and government decisions. Under our leadership, investment in health and education, as well as pulling people out of poverty, will be our priorities.
The relevant authorities should immediately ensure that our children in public schools return to school in the FCT.
A New Nigeria is POssible, and Nigeria will be OK. -PO
Scaring Investors While Celebrating Macroeconomic Stability!
As the APC-led government continue in their delusional celebration of Nigeria's macroeconomic stability, the warning from the United States Government to prospective investors on inherent risks in Nigeria, further affirms the general and correct assessment that President Bola Tinubu-led government is incompetent, ineffective and corrupt.
In the 2026 Nigeria Investment Climate Statement, the U.S. Department of State clearly flagged corruption, insecurity, inconsistent regulatory enforcement and weaknesses in the judicial system, cargo delays and power sector challenges as key factors undermining investor confidence in Nigeria. The report went further to caution investors of the possible use of arbitrary detention, travel restriction and immigration enforcement to coerce foreign businesses in Nigeria.
As the report unambiguosly stated: “U.S. businesses are advised that standard business trips can escalate into detention if the firm is under regulatory suspicion or faces charges by Nigerian authorities. Nigeria has previously employed coercive exit bans and arbitrary detention as leverage in commercial or regulatory disputes, and to extract data or financial concessions from multinational firms. Port inefficiency remains a significant “hidden tax” on investment. While the Lekki Deep Seaport, which opened in 2023, significantly eased pressure in 2025 — handling $9.6 billion in trade and operating at 50 percent capacity — traditional ports in Apapa and Tin Can still suffer from cargo dwell times exceeding 20 days due to manual examinations.”
In a nation with an effective, competent and attentive government, this kind of adverse report would have elicited immediate intervention by the President and Commander in Chief ordering prompt investigation, follow-up and effective action to ensure that our most endowed Nigeria is not perceived negatively by one of our key trading partners, friendly nations and expectedly the global economy. This is even more important given our desperation for Foreign Direct Investment.
Unfortunately, our incompetent APC- led government cannot give what they don’t have as they are the real perpetrators of the issues raised by the U.S. Government. This explains why Nigeria is unable to attract Foreign Direct Investment commensurate with our market size and potential. Of the $10.37 billion in total capital importation in the first quarter of 2026, only $135.08 million (about 1.3% of the total inflows) was Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), while about $9.86 billion (about 95.1% of the total inflows) went into Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) with loans and other capital streams accounting for the remaining.