Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday rejected a World Bank classification of Nigeria as among the five poorest countries in the world.
President Jonathan said at the May Day rally, held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, that “the nation is not poor. The challenge of the country is not poverty, but redistribution of wealth. If you talk about ownership of private jets, Nigeria will be among the first 10 countries. Yet, they are saying that Nigeria is among the five poorest countries.”
While stating that the realities on ground did not portray the country as a poor nation, but a nation which abundant wealth needed to be evenly redistributed, President Jonathan added that his government is working assiduously and putting policies in place to ensure that Nigerians had access to financial resources to create wealth for themselves.
According to the President, “Nigeria is not a poor country. Our GDP is over half a trillion dollars and the economy is growing at close to seven per cent.”
President Jonathan also dismissed Nigeria’s financial ratings by international bodies and global rating agencies.
Noting that his government is also moving agriculture from just a rural development programme to wealth creation and major business programme, the President said “the key commitment of government is to make sure that so many Nigerians have access to finance so that they will be able to create wealth for themselves.”
