Nigeria’s Life Expectancy Increases To 53 Years

The report released in Abuja on Tuesday, however, showed that Nigeria dropped to 152 in Human development Indices (HDI) against her 151 ranking in 2014 notwithstanding the achievement recorded within the period.

UNDP Resident Representative, Edward Kallon, in a statement said, “The report shows that between 2005 and 2015, Nigeria’s HDI increased from 0.466 to 0.527 – a 13.1 percent increase.

“This is encouraging, but given the humanitarian challenges already alluded to, and the economic recession witnessed in 2016, there is an urgent need to design policies and programmes to ensure that the upward trend in human development is not reversed.”

UNDP’s Economic Advisor for Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ojijo Odhiambo said just as Nigeria was improving, other countries of the world were improving as well.

Odhiambo, further expressed regrets that there were still much gender inequality as well as inequality in income and access to education in Nigeria.

“A lot of people are being excluded from the development process,” he said.

“Women, girls, indigenous people, migrants and refugees and ethnic minority are being left out in the development process.”