By Jose Oby 
The World Bank has expressed renewed concern over the deepening poverty crisis in Nigeria, revealing that a staggering 75.5% of rural residents now live below the poverty line.
This revelation was contained in the Bank’s latest Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria, released in April 2025.
The report underscores the severity of poverty in rural communities, where the majority of Nigeria’s poor population resides.
It follows an earlier warning in the Bank’s Africa’s Pulse report, published last month during the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria’s long-standing structural economic challenges, overdependence on oil revenues, and national fragility continue to impede efforts to achieve sustainable poverty reduction.
The Bank forecasts that without significant economic reforms, more Nigerians are likely to fall into poverty over the next five years.