“Nigeria in serious crisis”

“Nigeria deeply divided”

“Serious crisis in Nigeria”

These are variations of the headlines on major news sites in Nigeria today.

They all mean that things are really bad in Nigeria right now, according to a United Nations report.

The report was read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of the UN Development Assistance Framework IV for the South-East geo-political zone. The meeting was held in Awka, Anambra state.

The report is a lengthy one but here is a compendium of all the important details to help you put your worries in perspective:

1. Nigeria’s population will be approximately 200 million by 2019 and over 400 million by 2050 and will be one of the top five populous countries in the world.

2. 37 percent of children under the age of five in Nigeria are stunted, 18 percent wasted and 29 percent underweight. Only 10 percent of children aged 6-23 months are fed based on recommended infant and young children feeding practices.

3.Over 80 million Nigerians (64 percent of the entire population) live below the poverty line, making Nigeria one of the poorest countries in the world and the situation is getting worse. The poverty level is highest in rural areas and remote communities ranging from 46.9 percent in the South West to 74.3 percent in the North West and North East.

4. Over 10 million children of school age are out of school with no skills. Crime and terrorism stem from the helplessness and despair that come with youth unemployment, which is 42 percent high in 2016.

5. Government revenues have fallen by as much as 33 percent and Nigeria has officially fallen into a recession.

6. Nigeria has failed to protect her environment, ecosystem and natural resources. Over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution and desertification are exposing the population to vulnerability and risks of climate change.

7. Nigeria has one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world, despite being endowed with forest resources that account for 2.5 percent of GDP. Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest per year on average deforestation rate of 3.5 percent per annum. Human activities like farming, felling of trees and construction and increase in population lead to environmental destruction across Nigeria.

8. There are over 3.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria, this is Africa’s largest number and ranks behind Syria and Colombia on a global scale.

9. Since independence in 1960, different segments of Nigeria’s population have, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation, domination, oppression, threat or even targeted for elimination.

10. Nigeria is a deeply divided society considering the plurality of ethnic, religious and regional identities that define her political existence.