Nigerians Now 6th Most Miserable People In The World —Report

 

 

Data compiled by Steve Hanke, an economist from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, has classified Nigerians as the sixth “most miserable people in the world.”

 

The Misery Index was calculated using economic indices including unemployment, inflation and bank lending rates.

 

Venezuela, Argentina and Iran, the countries which topped the index, had high inflation rates as the major contributing factors.

 

For Nigeria, the unemployment rate was the major contributing factor. 

 

Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described Steve Hanke’s report as a vindication of its position “all this while,” saying the nation has sunk into a new low since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power in 2015.

 

The report said: “The original Misery Index was just a simple sum of a nation’s annual inflation rate and its unemployment rate. The Index has been modified several times, first by Robert Barro of Harvard and then by myself,” Hanke, the economist who compiled the list, told Forbes.

 

“My modified Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment, inflation and bank lending rates, minus the percentage change in real GDP per capita. Higher readings on the first three elements are “bad” and make people more miserable.

 

“These are offset by a “good” (GDP per capita growth), which is subtracted from the sum of the “bads.” A higher Misery Index score reflects a higher level of “misery,” and it’s a simple enough metric that a busy president, without time for extensive economic briefings, can understand at a glance.”

 

Venezuela, Argentina and Iran, the countries which topped the index, had high inflation rates as the major contributing factors.

 

In total, three African countries, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, fell between the top 10 most miserable countries.

 

 

 

PDP blames FG

 

Reacting to the development, PDP’s spokesman, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, tasked the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to perish the thought of the planned increment in Value Added Tax, VAT, saying such would only make life more difficult for the “already traumatised Nigerians.”

 

Ologbondiyan said: “That report is a vindication of the position of PDP all this while. The economy has virtually collapsed under President Buhari and the man is even mooting the idea of piling more pressure on Nigerians. 

 

“Nigerians have never suffered like they are suffering today because those charged with the responsibility of managing the economy have failed completely. They have no idea of what it takes to manage an economy like ours. 

 

“As an opposition party, we call on the Presidency to take urgent steps to fine-tune the economy, create jobs for our teeming youths if only to justify that a government is in place. 

 

“In the interim, we advise them to stop their plan to increase VAT as that will only fetch millions of Nigerians additional pain and discomfort.”

 

Noting that democracy is essentially about the people, Ologbindiyan expressed worry that rather improve on the living conditions of Nigerians, “the  APC-led administration of President Buhari appears to be deriving pleasure from inflicting pains and misery.

 

“Nigerians can now see that indeed, PDP don’t just do criticisms for the fun of it. We are talking of a report that search-lighted economies of countries in different continents of the world. Our beloved country is in shambles, but there is no doubt we will reclaim it for the people at the appointed time.”