By Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu
I am worried about figures from the UNDP Human Development Report 2013 as it affects our country, Nigeria.
The Report is categorised in FOUR broad areas: Very HIGH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HIGH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, MEDIUM HUMAN DEVELOPMENT and LOW HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. Our country Nigeria was indexed on the Low Human Development category behind Congo, Sao Tome & Principe, Kenya, Angola, Cameroun, Madagascar and Tanzania on the African continent.
Other countries on same category but ahead of Nigeria are Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar. The only African country listed on the Very High Human Development category is Seychelles.
African countries ranked on the Medium Human Development category are Gabon, Egypt, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Morocco, Cape Verde, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland. African countries listed on the High Human Development category are Libya, Algeria and Tunisia. Overall, our country Nigeria is ahead of 34 countries most of which are in Africa. My source of worry is that this categorisation, though based on statistics available to UNDP, is not a true reflection of Nigeria’s wealth and potentials.
Why would a country that ranks among top oil producers and exporters in the world rank so low on the HDI? Nigeria is the only major OPEC member on the Low Human Development category. The 2013 ranking is not different from the 2012 ranking. With this trend, we have a huge problem in our hands.