The Presidential flagbearer of Labour Party, Peter Obi has said about 100 million Nigerians are living in poverty.
He attributed the gross insecurity in the country to the extreme poverty Nigerians are suffering.
The former Anambra State Governor said this extreme poverty came about due to bad leadership.
Obi spoke during a one-day International Colloquium forum with the theme: “What do Nigerians Want?” held virtual that was organised by Christ Church, in Port Harcourt.
According to the former Governor of Anambra State, “Over the years what we see as a country is training people into poverty. The consequence is that we have 100 million people today living in poverty. There is no way you will have 100 million people living in poverty and you will not have crisis.
“We have more people living in poverty than China and Egypt combined, a population of about 2.5 billion. There is no where you won’t have these crises we are going through. The number of people that supposed to be working in Nigeria is 120 million, but today only 40 million are gainfully employed in Nigeria. We have 80 million people who are supposed to be working not working.
“The consequence is that we have a state but it is unproductive. Nigeria as a country is unproductive because when we talk about 80 million people that are not working, about 70 per cent are youths in their productive age doing nothing with so much tendencies.
“So, the country is not doing anything, all the country is doing today is sharing. Everybody is looking for what to share, even when what we are sharing is finished which is why we have the large crisis till date”.
