Migration Profile on Nigeria - IOM Publications - International ...

these goals are examined below, with a view to establishing their possible links
with migration.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
The various poverty indicators for achieving Goal 1 show that Nigeria still
has a long way to go to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The proportion
of the country’s total population below the USD 1 purchasing power parity per
day has been consistently high; however, it is now declining. Nigeria recorded
70.2 per cent in 2003, 70.8 per cent in 2005 and 64.4 per cent in 2007/2008
(UNDP, 2003, 2008, 2009).
Furthermore, there has been an appreciable decrease in the poverty rate
depicted by other poverty indicators. The relative measure of poverty, which
increased sharply in 1980–1985 (28.1% to 46.3%) and 1992–1996 (42.7% to
65.6%), dropped to 54.4 per cent in 2004 (NBS, 2005a), as shown in Table 1
and Figure 1. However, the national poverty gap ratio shows that the extent
of poverty is still considerable, though levelling up from 32.1 per cent in 1996
to 29.6 per cent by 2004 (United Nations Statistics Division, 2009). Yet another
poverty indicator is the quintile value. This is a measure of the consumption level
of the poorest 20 per cent of the total population, with a low value of 5.1 per
cent in 2004 (United Nations Statistics Division, 2009).
Figure 1: Population living in poverty, 1980–2004 (in millions)
Source: NBS, 2005a.
In essence, Nigeria lags behind in achieving the goal of eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger. Even though the indicators depict some kind of
improvement, it can be inferred that there is still a gap in the life chances of
28 <strong>Migration</strong> in Nigeria: A Country <strong>Profile</strong> 2009