Reasons for aid in Nigeria:
● Nigeria is not a rich or equal country
○ Oil exports provide £30.9 billion of government money
○ Only £183 per year , per person → very low income
● Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country ( 170 million people)
○ Wealth distribution:
■ 60 million = below poverty line
■ 60 million = just above poverty line
■ 50 million = well above poverty line
● 60% of those living in poverty are in the North
● ¾ of that are estimated to be in rural areas
● Nigeria has:
○ 15% of the world’s children out of school
○ 10% of world’s child/maternal deaths
● Girls and women are excluded from opportunities
○ Only 57% of girls attend primary school
○ Less than 1 in 4 moves onto secondary school
● Businesses lack regular electricity supplies → inefficient work
● Agriculture is the main job → is not productive
○ Leads to Nigeria having to import food
Terrorism still takes place in the north → Boko Haram making repeated attacks since 2012
○ Outbreaks of violence because people object to the south having more access to oil wealth
● Nigeria faced a debt crisis in 1980s and 1990s
○ Unable to repay debts → had to cut essential government spendings
○ Impossible to escape cycle of debt repayment
○ Did not keep up with interest repayments
○ 2005 → HICs agreed to debt relief for 39 of world’s highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs)
Types of aid:
→ Aid = help given by on country in the form of money, food, technology or advice (usually from HICs to LICs )
.
Example of aid: Mosquito nets
● N igeria has one of the highest death rates from malaria
○ Malaria = disease transmitted by a mosquito bite
○ Can cause long term health problems/death
● Can be easily prevented by sleeping under a mosquito net at night → costs £2 each
● Department for International Development sent £50 million to support National Malaria Programme
● Helps distribute 2 long-lasting insecticidal nets to every household in Nigeria
● Increases community awareness of malaria treatment/prevention
● 60 million nets distributed by World Bank, IMF and USA government
How UK aid is spend in Nigeria:
→ DFID = department for international aid
● 0.7% of every European country’s GDP must go into the DFID
Does Nigeria still need aid?
● Nigerian economy has grown since 2005
○ Nigeria graduated from being an LIC to becoming an NEE
● UK gives £300 million a year in aid to Nigeria
○ Critics have pointed out that Nigeria now funds its own space programme and invests in weather
satellites → does not need aid
○ UK’s response is that weather satellites will help to improve food production (will help predict
weather)
● 60% of population still live below the poverty line – on less than US$1.25 a day