Recently, a former Nigerian president sparked a wave of national reactions with his statement: “I now feed by renting out my house in Kaduna.”
Many Nigerians interpreted his remarks in various ways. Some viewed them as proof that he had not embezzled public funds to finance a lavish lifestyle after his presidency. Although this article does not aim to accuse the former head of state, some Nigerians believe that his statement is a false claim that should be disregarded. Conversely, others argue that he is a victim of a struggling economic system for which he is partly responsible. They contend that if a former president has to rely on rental income for survival, what does that say about the average citizen?
Regardless of how his statement is construed, the economic facts support the claim that the state of the Nigerian economy has worsened alarmingly compared to the past decade. The average living standard (GDP per capita) has fallen by about three per cent. The inflation rate rose from a single digit (less than 8%) in November 2014 to nearly 30% as of March 2025. Inflation, particularly concerning food prices, is deemed the biggest contributor to the current economic hardship in the country.
The youth are increasingly disenchanted. A clear sign that a nation is at a critical economic crossroads is when its citizens yearn for a return to the past rather than look to the future with hope. Paul Collier, in his book “The Bottom Billion,” remarked, “Development is about giving hope to the ordinary people that their children will live in a society that has caught up with the rest of the world. Take that hope away, and the smart people will use their energies not to develop their society but to escape from it.” Supporting this notion, Michael Clemens, a leading migration economist, stated, “There is no poor neighbourhood, city, region, or country on Earth that has developed in any meaningful way by trapping people there.” This describes the Nigerian situation well—Nigerians are leaving the country in droves.
According to an Afrobarometer survey, over 35% of Nigerians are willing to relocate abroad if given the opportunity. The African Polling Institute reported that 70% of Nigerians aged 18-35 years expressed this desire, and by 2024, this proportion rose to over 80% among healthcare workers. Consequently, the number of Nigerian students in three foreign countries increased by more than 200% within a decade. The chart below stitches together the extent of ‘education’ migration.
Over the past five years, Nigeria has lost 16,000 medical doctors to migration. Worryingly, this loss reduces the country’s doctor-to-population ratio because it takes nearly a decade (accounting for ASUU strikes) to train a qualified medical doctor in Nigeria. Meanwhile, we face a crisis of internal migration of doctors, as Lagos and Abuja, the country’s most prosperous cities, have the highest concentration of medical professionals, not necessarily due to higher demand for medical services.
The primary driving force behind this mass exodus is a desperate escape from economic destitution.
The Golden Age
Nigeria’s golden decade—a period of remarkable economic success—has come and gone. This was during the 1970s when Nigeria was a lending nation, not a borrowing one. Oil prices were soaring. The country’s currency was the strongest in Africa, even stronger than the US dollar and comparable to the British pound. Inflation and unemployment were historically low, and average living standards were about twice as high as they had been in the 1980s and 1990s.
During this Golden Age, significant projects were executed: two federally owned refineries were established and operational, and eight federal universities were founded, staffed with experienced and foreign-trained academics. Nigerian students who lived through this decade—many of whom are still alive today—can attest to the quality of education, life, and career prospects during that time. The economy was thriving for the majority, and the security of lives and property was much better than it is today.
The Journey to the Gilded Age
The term “Gilded Age” was coined by American essayist Mark Twain to describe a period marked by great wealth and poverty, as well as political corruption. Nigeria’s transition from its golden age to its current state of economic discontent is a result of a combination of political instability (e.g., three heads of state in less than two years), poor economic policies, and widespread corruption across all levels of government.
When oil prices hover around $100 per barrel, Nigeria generates approximately $200 million per day in revenues from the global oil market. Who are the major beneficiaries of these proceeds? The answer is not straightforward.
About two decades ago, 58% of Nigerians were living in absolute poverty—around 70 million people who could not spend 98 naira ($1.25, adjusted for purchasing power parity) per person per day on food and other basic needs. This amount is enough to buy a light lunch, pay for two haircuts, or purchase half a gallon of petrol in Nigeria, but it is insufficient for a cup of coffee at Starbucks in the United States or Costa Coffee in the United Kingdom. Back then, there were no Nigerians on Forbes’ global list of billionaires. Fast forward to 2010, and the statistics worsened: the number of people living in poverty increased from 69 million in 2004 to over 100 million, while the number of billionaires rose from zero to two. By 2020, this figure had increased to five, with roughly half of the country’s population living below the poverty line. In 2010, 7 out of 10 Nigerians were considered poor by this standard.
The combined net worth of these billionaires is approximately $24 billion, averaging about $4.6 billion per person. In 2020, Nigeria’s average income, adjusted for the wealth held by billionaires, was $1,300—meaning the wealth of one billionaire is nearly equivalent to the total yearly income of over three million Nigerians.
… continues in part 2
