COVID-19: Three Nigerian Billionaires’ Wealth Increased To $6.9b

Three Nigerian billionaires’ wealth increased to $6.9 billion during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020, a report by Oxfam in Nigeria has said.

Collectively, the total wealth of the three billionaires in Nigeria equal to $24.9 billion, the report stated.

The report said the billionaires saw their wealth increase by 38.3 per cent during the pandemic while 7.4 million people were estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020.

It noted that two out of the three richest billionaires have more wealth than the bottom 63 million of the Nigerian society.

The report titled: “Inequality kills,” was presented to the public yesterday by Oxfam in Nigeria Project Manager, Henry Ushie, ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda in Switzerland.

According to Oxfam in Nigeria, inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day or one person every four seconds.

“This is a conservative finding based on deaths globally from lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger and climate breakdown,” Oxfam in Nigeria said in the report.

Country Director of Oxfam in Nigeria, Dr. Vincent Ahonsi, speaking virtually during the presentation of the report, said: “It is disappointing that the two richest billionaires in Nigeria have more wealth than the bottom 63 million Nigerians. It is about time we begin to correct these extreme inequalities.

“Collectively, the total wealth of the three billionaires in Nigeria equals $24.9 billion and throughout the pandemic (beginning in mid-March 2020), their wealth increased $6.9 billion while the majority of Nigerians are poorer. It is a remarkable surge in wealth at the very top of the society, which has not impacted positively on the majority.”

-TheNation