A country this rich has no business producing this much poverty
An Oblong Media Global Intelligence Special Report
There is a statement Nigerians need to hear as another election approaches:
Government is not doing you a favour when it builds a road.
Government is not doing you a favour when it sinks a borehole.
Government is not doing you a favour when it renovates a school, supplies a transformer, builds a health centre, pays salaries or constructs a bridge.
That is government doing its job.
The money belongs to the Nigerian people.
The oil belongs to the Nigerian people.
The gas belongs to the Nigerian people.
The taxes belong to the Nigerian people.
The minerals underneath our soil are national assets.
And the people occupying government offices are temporary custodians of those resources.
This distinction matters enormously as Nigeria approaches another election.
Because one of the great distortions of Nigerian democracy has been the transformation of public service into political philanthropy.
A governor commissions a road and sycophant supporters praise and thank him.
A senator supplies a transformer and drums come out.
A House of Representatives member sinks boreholes and banners bearing his photograph appear beside them.
A president commissions infrastructure financed from public revenues or public borrowing, and citizens are sometimes encouraged to regard it as an act of personal generosity.
No.
The correct question is:
Given the enormous resources placed in your hands, what did you actually accomplish with them?
That is where the Nigerian conversation must begin.
FIRST, CONSIDER HOW RICH THIS COUNTRY ACTUALLY IS
Nigeria is not naturally poor.
As of 1 January 2026, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission put Nigeria’s proven plus probable crude oil and condensate reserves at approximately 37.01 billion barrels.
Nigeria’s corresponding natural gas reserves stood at an extraordinary 215.19 trillion cubic feet.
The regulator estimates reserve lives of approximately 59 years for oil and 85 years for gas at prevailing production assumptions.
And production is not theoretical.
In June 2026, Nigeria produced an average 1.735 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate, according to NUPRC. Crude alone averaged approximately 1.56 million barrels daily, the country’s highest crude output since April 2020.
Then consider this extraordinary historical figure.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative reports that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector generated approximately US$831.15 billion between 1999 and 2023.
That is more than eight hundred billion dollars from oil and gas alone.
And that excludes the full economic value of Nigeria’s agriculture, telecommunications, banking, ports, taxes, solid minerals, manufacturing, diaspora remittances and enormous human capital.
So the first question Nigerians should ask is brutally simple:
WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
Not just under this government.
Not just under the previous government.
Not just under one political party.
Over decades.
Federal governments.
State governments.
Local governments.
Legislatures.
Government agencies.
Everyone who has exercised control over Nigerian public resources must ultimately confront that question.
THEN LOOK AT THE PEOPLE
The contradiction is staggering.
Nigeria’s official 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index found that approximately 133 million Nigerians, 63% of the population, were multidimensionally poor.
Rural multidimensional poverty stood at approximately 72%, compared with 42% in urban areas.
The state disparity was extraordinary: the incidence ranged from approximately 27% in Ondo to 91% in Sokoto.
And conditions have remained extremely difficult.
The World Bank estimates that another 7 million Nigerians fell into poverty during 2025, putting the estimated share living below the national poverty line at around 63%.
Poor households can spend as much as 70% of their income simply on food.
Think about that.
A country sitting on 37 billion barrels of oil and more than 215 trillion cubic feet of gas has tens of millions of citizens struggling simply to eat.
That is the Nigerian paradox.
It cannot be explained simply by saying Nigeria lacks resources.
THE CHILDREN TELL AN EVEN MORE DISTURBING STORY
According to UNICEF’s 2024 Nigeria report:
20.2 million primary school age children were out of school.
Another 8.1 million junior-secondary-age children were out of school.
Among children aged 7–14, UNICEF reported that 73% struggled to understand simple sentences, while 75% could not solve basic mathematics problems.
Approximately 40% of children under five were stunted.
Nigeria had approximately 2.1 million zero dose children, children who had received no routine vaccination, the highest number reported globally.
And nearly seven out of ten Nigerian children were living in multidimensional poverty.
These are not merely statistics.
They represent Nigeria’s future workforce.
Nigeria’s future engineers.
Nigeria’s future doctors.
Nigeria’s future entrepreneurs.
Nigeria’s future taxpayers.
Nigeria’s future productivity.
When millions of children grow up malnourished, poorly educated or outside school altogether, today’s governance failure becomes tomorrow’s economic crisis.
WATER: STOP CELEBRATING BOREHOLES AS DEVELOPMENT
This point deserves particular emphasis.
In the 21st century, a borehole should ordinarily be a stopgap or local solution, not the ultimate symbol of governmental achievement in a major oil producing country.
UNICEF data indicate that only around 30% of Nigerians use safely managed drinking water services.
UNICEF’s 2024 country report similarly found that nearly seven in ten households lacked access to safe drinking water, while people in approximately one in five households practised open defecation.
So when politicians advertise individual boreholes as monumental constituency achievements, citizens should ask a bigger question:
Where is the water system?
Where are the treatment plants?
Where are the reservoirs?
Where are the municipal pipelines?
Where is reliable household distribution?
Where are functioning sewage and wastewater systems?
Nigeria cannot indefinitely substitute scattered interventions for infrastructure systems.
ELECTRICITY: AN ECONOMY CANNOT INDUSTRIALISE ON GENERATORS
Nigeria’s electricity problem is another national indictment.
NERC’s August 2026 operational report put average available grid connected capacity at just 4,758 MW, with approximately 4,102 MW utilised on average.
This is a country of well over 200 million people.
That single statistic should cause Nigerians to reconsider what we call economic development.
Factories need electricity.
Hospitals need electricity.
Universities need electricity.
Data centres need electricity.
Cold storage facilities need electricity.
Small businesses need electricity.
Modern agriculture needs electricity.
Industry needs electricity.
Nigeria cannot seriously aspire to become an industrial power while businesses effectively operate miniature private electricity companies behind their premises using diesel, petrol, solar panels, batteries and generators.
The cost eventually enters the price of everything Nigerians buy.
Electricity failure therefore becomes inflation.
It becomes unemployment.
It becomes reduced competitiveness.
It becomes factory closure.
It becomes poverty.
HEALTHCARE: ILLNESS SHOULD NOT BECOME A FINANCIAL DEATH SENTENCE
Nigeria’s health financing statistics are equally troubling.
The WHO linked African Health Observatory reports that out of pocket expenditure accounts for more than 75% of total health expenditure, while only around 5% of Nigerians were covered by health insurance or other prepayment/risk pooling arrangements in the data reviewed.
Consider what that means in practical terms.
A poor Nigerian becomes seriously ill.
The family starts making telephone calls.
Money is borrowed.
Assets are sold.
Friends contribute.
WhatsApp fundraising begins.
Relatives abroad are contacted.
Treatment sometimes depends upon whether enough money can be assembled quickly enough.
That is not universal healthcare.
And it should not be normalised.
AND THEN THERE IS THE DEBT
Borrowing itself is not inherently irresponsible.
Countries borrow.
Companies borrow.
Successful economies borrow.
The relevant questions are:
What did you borrow for?
At what cost?
What asset did you create?
What economic return will that asset produce?
And can the country comfortably service the debt?
This distinction becomes especially important with resource-backed borrowing.
Nigeria entered a US$3.3 billion crude oil prepayment facility arranged by Afreximbank and sponsored by NNPCL. The IMF described the arrangement as involving the forward sale of 90,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with a five year maturity and an interest rate of six percentage points above three month SOFR.
The IMF specifically observed that because repayment comes from crude oil sales proceeds accruing to the Federation, the transaction reduces future government oil revenue.
That does not automatically make every resource backed transaction improper.
But it demonstrates exactly why transparency matters.
Today’s government can spend money whose repayment depends upon tomorrow’s resources.
Tomorrow’s Nigerians therefore deserve to know precisely what liability is being created today.
The DMO published Nigeria’s latest public debt position for 30 June 2026 on 25 September 2026, alongside updated federal, external and state/FCT debt schedules.
The IMF’s 2026 assessment projected public gross debt at around 35.4% of GDP in 2026, but an especially important measure is the burden on government revenue: its projections put Federal Government interest payments at approximately 53.7% of FGN revenue in 2026.
Debt to GDP alone therefore does not tell the whole story.
Debt-service capacity matters.
STATES CANNOT ESCAPE THIS SCRUTINY
This is not simply an Abuja problem.
Nigeria has 36 governors, 36 state legislatures and 774 local government areas.
And enormous sums flow downward.
For February 2026 alone, FAAC distributed approximately ₦1.894 trillion.
The states received approximately ₦651.5 billion directly, local governments received another ₦456.5 billion, while oil-producing states received approximately ₦110.9 billion in derivation.
Then, for March 2026, distributable FAAC revenue reached approximately ₦2.036 trillion.
States received approximately ₦657.6 billion, local governments approximately ₦468.8 billion, with another ₦120.8 billion distributed as derivation.
So when a governor says there is no money, citizens are entitled to examine the books.
Show us your FAAC receipts.
Show us your internally generated revenue.
Show us your debt.
Show us your recurrent expenditure.
Show us your capital expenditure.
Show us what was budgeted.
Show us what was actually released.
Show us the contracts.
Show us the contractors.
Show us the kilometres of roads completed.
Show us the schools rehabilitated.
Show us the functioning hospitals.
Show us the water infrastructure.
Show us the jobs created.
Show us measurable outcomes.
In 2023 alone, Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT generated approximately ₦2.43 trillion in internally generated revenue. Lagos generated about ₦815.9 billion, the FCT ₦211.1 billion and Rivers ₦195.4 billion.
FAAC plus IGR plus borrowing means governors must be scrutinised just as aggressively as presidents.
BUT THERE IS AN IMPORTANT COUNTERPOINT
Serious analysis must acknowledge improvement where the evidence shows improvement.
Nigeria’s recent macroeconomic reforms have produced some measurable gains.
The World Bank says inflation declined from 33.2% in 2024 to 23.0% in 2025, while foreign exchange reserves rose and fiscal revenues strengthened.
The World Bank’s April 2026 Nigeria Development Update also says progress has been made toward restoring macroeconomic stability.
But it immediately identifies the central problem:
household incomes have not fully recovered and poverty remains high.
That distinction is crucial.
Macroeconomic reform is not meaningless simply because citizens have not yet felt all the benefits.
But neither should governments declare victory merely because spreadsheets are improving while households remain under enormous pressure.
Eventually macroeconomic stability must reach the kitchen.
It must reach salaries.
It must reach food prices.
It must reach electricity.
It must reach transportation.
It must reach employment.
It must reach hospitals.
It must reach schools.
Otherwise ordinary Nigerians will reasonably ask:
Stability for whom?
THIS IS WHAT THE NEXT ELECTION SHOULD REALLY BE ABOUT
Not tribe.
Not religion.
Not whose brother is contesting.
Not whose governor appointed you.
Not whose senator gave you ₦50,000.
Not who attended your wedding.
Not who bought your association a bus.
Not who paid your hotel bill.
Not who gave your traditional ruler a vehicle.
Not who appointed your cousin.
Not who dominates your WhatsApp group.
And certainly not because somebody belongs to the political party you have supported all your life.
Those things may matter personally.
But Nigeria is bigger than all of them.
Every voter can instead ask every candidate, incumbent or challenger, federal or state, the same questions.
What have you managed before?
What measurable results did you produce?
What is your record with public money?
What exactly are you proposing?
How much will it cost?
Where will the money come from?
How will you increase productivity?
How will you create sustainable employment?
How will you improve electricity?
How will you improve healthcare?
How will you improve education?
How will you provide water and sanitation?
How will you improve security?
How will you grow the tax base without simply squeezing already impoverished citizens?
And above everything:
CAN YOU SHOW EVIDENCE THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO MANAGE?
HUNGER IS REAL, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY VOTING DESERVES SERIOUS THOUGHT
Nobody sitting comfortably should lecture a hungry Nigerian about refusing money.
Poverty changes choices.
When your children have not eaten, ₦10,000 is not theoretical.
When school fees are unpaid, ₦20,000 matters.
When somebody needs medicine, even ₦5,000 matters.
That reality should be acknowledged rather than mocked.
But there is another side to it.
A temporary payment does not build an economy.
A bag of rice cannot repair a hospital.
A political handout cannot construct a power grid.
A packet of noodles cannot educate a child for twelve years.
And whatever a voter receives during an election is tiny compared with the value of the public resources government will control during the following four years.
That is the bigger calculation.
THE REAL PRICE OF AN ELECTION IS FOUR YEARS
An election is not merely about election day.
The decision determines who exercises power for approximately 1,460 days.
During those 1,460 days, governments will control budgets worth trillions of naira.
They will borrow money.
Award contracts.
Appoint officials.
Control agencies.
Determine priorities.
Build or neglect hospitals.
Build or neglect schools.
Build or neglect roads.
Develop or neglect water systems.
Create conditions for investment, or drive investment elsewhere.
The consequences compound.
That is why short term political decisions can produce long term economic consequences.
WE MUST ALSO STOP WORSHIPPING POLITICIANS FOR SPENDING OUR OWN MONEY
This cultural change may be as important as any constitutional reform.
A public official is not a benefactor.
He is an employee of the Republic.
Public money is not his money.
A constituency project is not a personal donation from a legislator.
A state project is not the governor’s personal gift.
A federal highway is not presidential philanthropy.
Citizens can acknowledge good performance.
Indeed, good government deserves recognition.
But recognition should be based on results, efficiency, integrity and value for money, not gratitude for government merely performing its basic responsibilities.
NIGERIA’S FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM IS NO LONGER DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY
We have resources.
We have oil.
We have gas.
We have fertile land.
We have minerals.
We have ports.
We have an enormous domestic market.
We have talented people.
We have a huge diaspora.
We have entrepreneurs succeeding across the world.
What Nigeria has repeatedly struggled to build is the institutional capacity to transform those advantages consistently into mass prosperity.
The World Bank puts Nigeria’s 2024 GDP per capita at only about US$1,084.
And approximately 3.5 million people enter Nigeria’s labour force every year, according to the World Bank.
That means standing still is effectively moving backwards.
Nigeria needs millions of productive jobs simply to absorb its young population.
SO BEFORE THE NEXT BALLOT, LOOK BEYOND THE POSTERS
Every incumbent should present a report card.
Every challenger should present a credible plan.
Every governor seeking political influence should explain his state’s finances and outcomes.
Every legislator seeking another term should explain what he or she actually accomplished.
Every presidential candidate should explain how Nigeria becomes more productive, more secure and substantially less poor.
And citizens can judge the evidence themselves.
Not propaganda.
Not insults.
Not ethnic arithmetic.
Not religious mobilisation.
Not social media armies.
Evidence.
THE QUESTION IS NOT WHO LOVES YOU
The question is:
WHO CAN GOVERN?
Who understands economics?
Who understands institutions?
Who can assemble competent people?
Who understands that oil wealth is finite?
Who understands human capital?
Who understands infrastructure?
Who understands that education is economic policy?
Who understands that healthcare is economic policy?
Who understands that electricity is industrial policy?
Who understands that security is investment policy?
Who understands that corruption ultimately represents stolen hospitals, stolen classrooms, stolen roads and stolen opportunities?
Those are questions Nigerians themselves must answer from the records and proposals of the people seeking power.
2027 SHOULD BE AN AUDIT
Before anybody asks Nigerians for another mandate, open the books.
How much did you receive?
How much did you borrow?
How much did you spend?
What did you build?
What does it cost?
Does it work?
How many people benefited?
What was the measurable improvement from when you entered office?
Apply those questions equally.
APC.
PDP.
Labour.
ADC.
NDC.
APP.
Every party.
Every governor.
Every senator.
Every representative.
Every candidate.
Nobody deserves exemption because of ethnicity, friendship, religion, party affiliation or political allegiance.
Nigeria cannot become a serious country until Nigerians begin demanding serious government.
The country possesses approximately 37 billion barrels of oil reserves and 215 trillion cubic feet of gas, yet tens of millions live in poverty.
Millions of children remain outside school.
Safely managed water remains unavailable to most of the population.
The national grid still operates at only a few thousand megawatts on average.
And families continue financing much of their healthcare directly from their own pockets.
These are not abstract political arguments.
This is the scoreboard.
Nigeria’s governments should be judged against it.
Nigeria’s challengers should explain precisely how they intend to change it.
And Nigerian citizens should examine both before making their own choice.
Because elections have consequences far beyond election day.
Nigeria has spent decades proving that possessing enormous natural wealth is not enough.
The next challenge is converting that wealth into electricity in homes, water through pipes, children in good schools, functioning hospitals, productive factories, safe communities, decent jobs and rising household incomes.
That, not the number of political billboards, convoys, endorsements or boreholes, is development.
And that is the standard against which every Nigerian government should be measured.
By Duruebube Chimazuru “Oblong” Nnadi-Oforgu
For
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE
The numbers do not belong to any political party.
Neither should accountability.
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