The NGO criticizes in a report the lack of involvement of the States of the region to fight against the wealth gap.
Some $30 billion in the hands of the five richest Nigerians. Higher than their country's federal budget in 2017, this sum also exceeds the annual $ 24 billion that would lift more than 85 million Nigerians out of extreme poverty, the threshold of which is set at $1.90 a day. These inequalities, Oxfam is alarmed in a report designed with Development Finance International (DFI), made public last week. They are not only rampant in Nigeria but in the majority of West African countries .
The fault lies with governments, say the authors of the report. The latter have established a ranking of the States most involved in the fight against inequality through an analysis of their social expenditure, tax rates and minimum wages. Cape Verde is considered the best student in this area, Nigeria the worst. The NGO suggests “a radical change of course”, in the wake of what Senegal has been able to do, today endowed with “one of the largest social protection programs in Africa ”. progressive taxation, increasing social spending, strengthening labor market protection, investing in agriculture, defending farmers' right to land... So many stated objectives
to reverse the trend. And the NGO warns : they will remain out of reach without a commitment from the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Economic Union and
West African currency (UEMOA). “Inequality has reached extreme levels in the region , such that today the richest 1% of West Africans earn more than the rest of the region 's population combined,” the report argues. who believes that these inequalities have “reached a level of crisis”. When a tiny group of people becomes “incredibly rich”, almost the entire population remains deprived of the “most essential elements for a dignified life”: education, health or employment. Like Southern Africa , West Africa lags considerably behind in terms of inequality vis-à-vis other regions of the continent. In 2018, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger were among the ten countries with the strongest economic growth.
To note
The World Health Organization on Wednesday elevated the Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic raging in the DRC to the rank of a global health “emergency”.