ABUJA, Nigeria, March 2 (UPI) -- A government report says that more than six out of 10 Nigerians have incomes of less than $1 a day in a country that exports 2 million barrels of oil a day.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported in mid-February that 97.6 million Nigerians, 61 percent of the population, live in extreme poverty, Voice of America reported. The number of people with incomes below the $1-a-day benchmark has grown by 10 percent since 2004.
Poverty is worst in the north, a predominantly Muslim area. Boko Haram, a Muslim group that wants to turn Nigeria into a country operating under strict Islamic law, has been blamed for attacks on government officials and Christians, especially around Kano.
While Boko Haram's name in the Hausa language means western education is sinful, Roni Abdullahi Badamasi, a small trader in Kano, said he thinks area residents need more education. He also blames corrupt officials.
"The northern elite only educate members of their immediate families in expensive schools, at the expense of the poor," Badamasi said.
