“In West Africa, inequality has reached crisis levels. While a small but growing number of individuals are becoming incredibly rich, the vast majority of the population is deprived of the most essential elements for a dignified life, such as quality education, health care and decent employment, and this despite remarkable economic growth driven by the extractive industries,” states the report The West Africa Inequality Crisis drawn up by the NGO Oxfam and Development Finance International.

For many countries, growth is not keeping pace with poverty reduction. Growth is not inclusive enough and has so far only seemed to benefit a minority. “Inequality has reached extreme levels in the region, so that today the richest 1% of West Africans earn more than the rest of the region's population combined”.

Beyond the "shock phrases" - in Nigeria, the richest man in the country earns about 150,000 times more income than expenses than the 10%; the poorest devote on average to their basic consumption in one year; in Ghana one of the country's richest men earns more in a month than one of the country's poorest women could earn in 1,000 years; women from wealthy families in Mali are 15 times more likely to have a secondary education than those from poor families; West African countries lose an estimated $9.6 billion a year from tax incentives offered to multinational corporations, the equivalent of 100 modern hospitals – the report seeks to measure governments' commitment to reducing these inequalities.

The Commitment to Reducing Inequalities (CRI) Index ranks country data according to three broad areas of action: devoting progressive spending to sectors such as education, health and social protection; tax the rich more than the poor and pay workers a living wage. It appears that West African governments are the least committed on the continent to reducing inequalities. In this average, Burkina Faso and Senegal are exceptions, particularly in terms of social expenditure.

Investing in agriculture one of the ways to reduce inequalities

Inequality is not inevitable, says the report. Support for agriculture is one of the solutions advocated for overcoming them. To do this, States must devote at least 10% of the national budget to agriculture. An objective affirmed and taken in 2003 by African countries in Maputo but almost not respected, only two countries out of 15 in the region respect it.

In addition, they should develop a national agricultural investment plan integrating gender issues and focusing on family farmers of non-cash crops. But also to rebalance public investments between rural and urban areas. Oxfam also stresses the need “to fully implement the African Union land policy framework, focusing efforts on eliminating agricultural land poverty, agricultural landlessness and land insecurity”. 'land use among the poorest populations, and especially among women', to streamline land registration processes in order to limit red tape and cost.