Rich, Poor: Nigeria ranks 157th in class inequality rankings

It makes the second consecutive year that Nigeria has ranked lowest in the rankings.

Class inequality is a modern struggle, it is also a core principle guaranteed by industrialization and capitalism. The truth though is, equality in class might never happen.

It is an ongoing struggle that has gained credence as years roll by, but apparently, that’s not the Nigerian reality and it is not far-fetched.

Though the woke demographic on social media know better, they still struggle with latent poverty and a worrying lack of social amenities or privileges.

Old money keeps getting stronger because money usually creates more money, directly or indirectly. The effects of inequality are however far-reaching that we care to admit.

A combination of these factors is why Nigeria has placed 157th in the inequality list, that ranked 157 countries — in essence, Nigeria ranked last.

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What is this ‘inequality ranking’?

 

Also called Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index, it is a list compiled by UK charity Oxfam International, a global body focused on poverty alleviation and it releases the list yearly.

The Index was released on October 9, 2018, and according to This Day, it measures the budget commitments in two-thirds of counties and actual spending in the remaining one-third.

As in 2018, Nigeria also ranked last in 2017 behind Islamic nations and war-torn countries like Uzbekistán at 156, Haiti at 155, Sierra Leone at 153 and Bhutan at 152.

India also ranks in the at 143. Oxfam noted that Nigeria’s social spending on health, education and social protection has remained “shamefully low, which is reflected in very poor social outcomes for its citizens.”

The index noted, “One in 10 children in Nigeria does not reach their 50th birthday while 25 and more than 10 million children do not go to school. Sixty percent of these are girls.

“The CRI Index shows that in the past years, Nigeria has seen an increase in the number of labour rights violations. The minimum wage has not increased since 2011. Social spending has stagnated.

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“The CRI Index also shows that there is still significant potential for Nigeria to raise and collect more tax, so it scores very badly on this aspect too.

“There have however been very recent improvements in this area in 2018, which will show up in next year’s CRI.”

For this reason, this International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Nigeria on the importance of tackling inequality considering the consistently low rankings.

It says, “The president of the country has also said that tackling inequality is important as inequality leads to political instability, yet little has been done,”

Amongst other things, the list also states that spending on certain social amenities helps eradicate inequality.

Denmark, Germany, Finland, Austria, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, France, Iceland, Luxemborg rank in the top 10, in that order.