FOLLOWING Nigeria’s 66th Independence Day anniversary on 1 October 2026, political figures and public officials issued statements assessing the nation’s progress. Among them was the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, who raised several points regarding the country’s socio-economic conditions.
Nigeria celebrates its Independence Day annually on 1 October to mark its independence from British colonial rule in 1960.
In this report, The FactCheckHub examines data-driven claims made by Obi using official statistics and other verifiable data sources.
“Today, we stand before the world as a nation with the highest number of people living in poverty and hardship with over 140 million.”
Assessing the claim requires distinguishing between the number of people living in poverty and the proportion of a country’s population living in poverty, as well as the different methods used to measure poverty.
Available international estimates support the view that Nigeria has one of the largest, absolute populations living in extreme poverty. Data displayed on the World Poverty Clock Dashboard, using an international extreme-poverty threshold, put the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty at about 73.1 million, representing about 31% of the country’s population. This is higher in absolute terms than the corresponding figures for countries such as...
Democrats worry the president will intervene in the midterm elections by claiming foreign interference. Here's what they're doing to stop him USA TODAY WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his ...