For Today’ Numbers to Ponder, the National Bureau of Statistics has reported over 80 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty. Another unfavourable report – Nigeria ranked 115 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. This signals Nigeria is not safe to practice accountability journalism. As the country battles with revenue crisis due to COVID-19 and crash in crude oil price, the solid mineral sector recorded just N416.32b as earnings in 12 years. Hurray! the opportunity has arrived for the Federal government to repurpose the $311m recovered loot of late Sani Abacha for pro-poor programmes. In another report, the Nigerian military has killed 134 members of the Boko Haram terrorist group. Kudos right?
80m In Poverty
More than 80 million Nigerians are in extreme poverty, living on less than N400 per day (approximately $1). This number represents 40.9 percent of the population. The National Bureau Of Statistics (NBS) revealed this in its Poverty and Inequality 2019 report. The report was released on Monday, May 4th, 2020, after a decade. With the latest figure, it means that an average of 4 out of 10 individuals in Nigeria live on $1 per day. [DATAPHYTE]
115th Position
In January 2020, barely a few days to his wedding, a Nigerian journalist, Maxwell Nashan, was reportedly gagged and hacked to death. According to reports, he was firs abducted from his home. Why was he killed? Probably because he was doing his job. He worked with a government-owned radio state – the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) station. In RWS’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index, Nigeria is among the worst violators of journalists’ rights, reporters, ranking 115 out of 180 countries. The West African country, however, dropped five places from the 2019 ranking. [DATAPHYTE]
$311m Abacha Loot
The federal government has received $311,797,866.11 as part of recovered assets of Sani Abacha, a former military dictator. The funds were repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, the special assistant on media and public relations to Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
N416.32b Earnings
The Nigerian government earned ₦416.32 billion from the solid minerals sector from 2007 to 2018, an analysis by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism [PTCIJ] and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has revealed. Over half of that amount was earned between 2015 and 2018.
75% Workforce
Access Bank Plc on Monday denied news making rounds that it would sack 75 percent of its workforce and as well close over 300 branches. The bank denied this in a statement signed by Mr Sunday Ekwochi, its Company Secretary, posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) website.
134 Boko Haram Members
The military has killed 134 members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in a sustained renewed efforts to end insurgents activities in the North-East of the country. This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche.
N1m on Damages
The Federal High Court in Lagos has awarded N1m against the Nigerian Government over the police disruption of the August 5, 2019, #RevolutionNow protest. The court awarded the N1m in favour of a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, who said he participated in the protest and was among those tear-gassed by security agents.