Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said 90 per cent of Nigeria live on less than $2 per day.

Sanusi, who was the Guest speaker at the 5th Annual Hijrah lecture of the Lagos State’s House of Assembly, on the theme ‘Societal Reformation: The role of Muslims’, said despite being a major oil producing nation, poverty, lack and deprivation reign supreme.

“We are an oil producing country, how come 90 per cent of our people are living on less than two dollars a day, how come 70 per cent of our people are living on less than one dollar a day, how come we have so many women dying in child birth, how come we have so many children that are out of school, how come life expectancy is down to 55 or 54. What has happened to us? We need to ask what have we done”?, Sanusi said.

He admonished Muslims to speak up about immorality and corruption in the society, urging that they speak the truth always even if they will not be loved for doing so.

He condemned the attitude of the average Nigerian of wanting to take more than his fair share in everything saying is the very genesis of corruption which practically every Nigerian is guilty of.

Sanusi also called on the leaders especially those in government to remember that Allah will ask all about that which He has placed in their care.

He said, “each of you is a shepherd, each of you have been given something to take care of and each of you will be asked about that you have been given responsibility for. Every man is a shepherd and will be asked about the people in his house”. Adding that responsibility is not only about leaders but even about every position we find ourselves in the society.

He further admonished Muslims to read, understand and live the Quaran as injunctions there is meant to guide their daily actions in every sphere of life.

“We all need to ask ourselves what examples we lead, what values we base our lives on, what principle we preach and we need to always remember that this has been the one message of Allah all through time”, Sanusi said.

While welcoming the guest earlier, Chief Host of the event, Speaker of the Lagos Assembly said, the nation is going through a very difficult period, “a period of instability which we have not had for a very long time”, and prayed for a period of peace and progress.
By Oziegbe Okoeki: The Nation Newspapers reported.
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Since we know that  Nigeria is rich in oil while many are seriously poor, the best thing is
to ask those people entrusted with the governance of the land why the people are poor.

A country is poor because it is poor but in the case of Nigeria it is rich in both natural
and human resources but people are poor.

Nigerians' orientation in the country must change otherwise people will continue to suffer
in the midst of plenty. Poverty and ignorance nothing can cure it.

I believe strongly the statistics are wrong. Our minimum wage of 18k gives us about 3 to 4 dollars a day. Now, estimate the number of politicians, Federal, State and LG workers in the country. Add all the oil workers and their support staff. Add all the doctors, bankers, lawyers, engineers, etc. In the private sector businesses who earn over 50k. What about the teachers, lecturers, etc in the various private schools. The list is endless.

In fact, if you count only number of people likely to earn this amount in Lagos and Abuja you will find much more people are above this line. A bus driver who returns over 2k a day can easily make about 5 dollars daily.

I think Sanusi's statistics are coming from people's bank balances. But the reality is that not up to half of the population use those banks. Many Nigerians make huge sums of money daily but keep their money at home.

Re: efisher (m) comments
If the minimum wage is 18K, how many people are receiving the 18K per month?
For your information, in the US the federal minimum wage is $7.25 hr. God will just help.
Nigeria is rich but the money is not used productively.