Nigeria’s rural poverty now ‘worse than in 1960’, group warns

A new grassroots survey by the Big Tent coalition, a political ideological group, has warned that Nigeria’s rural poverty levels have deteriorated so drastically that conditions are now worse than they were at independence in 1960, with 75 percent of rural Nigerians living in “chronic poverty.”

The assessment led by a professor of Political Economy and activist, Pat Utomi, paints a picture of a nation on the brink, overwhelmed by hunger, insecurity, collapsing infrastructure, and a political class “more focused on power and propaganda than purpose.”

“You don’t need statistics to see that hunger is savaging the land,” the group said in a 14-page report released Sunday. “Walk the streets of Ibadan or Maiduguri and you’ll see the new destitution.”

The Big Tent, which styles itself as a reformist political movement, drew comparisons to the early post-independence era when rural farmers generated national savings through agriculture. 

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Today, the group said, insecurity and policy neglect have stripped rural areas of resilience, leaving millions at the mercy of rising food costs and near-zero public services.

The warning comes amid rising poverty levels in Africa’s most populous nation as 129 million citizens have been plunged into poverty in 2024. And more than 30 million Nigerians face acute food and nutrition insecurity in the ongoing lean season, according to the coalition, a figure backed by international relief agencies already preparing aid interventions.

‘State is losing legitimacy’

The report went beyond statistics to issue a moral indictment of Nigeria’s ruling elite. It described a widening chasm between the state and citizens, with growing public disillusionment over economic hardship, electoral manipulation, and systemic corruption.

“The tragedy of the Nigerian condition is that governments continue running in profligacy in the face of mass misery,” the report said. “This reflects a deep crisis of legitimacy.”

Big Tent cited findings from a grassroots survey across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, which showed that citizens are “angry and hungry”; trust in political leadership is collapsing; and demand is growing for peace, jobs, and responsive governance.

The coalition accused the President Bola Tinubu current administration of being distracted by little or no impact projects like new presidential jets and the controversial Lagos-Calabar superhighway, which it described as “a classic case of state capture.”

‘No strategy for the poor’

In the agricultural sector — once Nigeria’s economic backbone — policy paralysis and security threats have crushed productivity. Despite accounting for 22 percent of GDP and employing more than a third of the labour force, the sector suffers from a N1.04 trillion trade deficit and dependence on over $10 billion in annual food imports.

The coalition warned of a government “disconnected from reality,” with no coherent plan to reverse hunger or rural economic collapse.

Big tent’s policy blueprint
Among its recommendations, Big Tent called for assigning universities to drive agricultural extension services; reforming land tenure systems to unlock capital; prioritising rural infrastructure and food processing clusters; and derisking private investment in agriculture and manufacturing.

The group outlined a region-specific industrialisation plan that includes lithium battery production in North Central, leather and gum Arabic in the Northwest, and cocoa processing in the Southwest — echoing the sectoral strategy of Southeast Asia’s economic rise.

Read also: Insecurity, poor infrastructure fueling Nigeria’s rising rural poverty – Adeosun

Health and education in crisis

The report also spotlighted Nigeria’s worsening health and education systems, describing them as the “fountains of human capital now poisoned by neglect.”

It noted that over 60 percent of Nigerian-trained doctors now work abroad, and public education is sustained largely by low-cost private schools in informal settlements.

On corruption and debt

Corruption, the group said, remains Nigeria’s most existential threat. It urged the full digitisation of elections and the use of technologies like blockchain in public finance.

It also warned against Nigeria’s rising debt appetite, following a recent approval by lawmakers for a $29 billion borrowing plan.

Read also: Turning the tide on rural poverty requires innovation

“We are mortgaging the future,” the report said, calling for a constitutional amendment to require balanced budgets except for investment-grade loans.

A nation at a crossroads

The Big Tent’s message is clear: Nigeria is in the throes of a multidimensional crisis, economic, social, and moral, and time is running out. “The state of our nation is terrifying,” Utomi said. “Citizens have a duty to reclaim the public square. This is the purpose of democracy — and this is the urgency of now.”