The Poor of Nigeria and the story of Chinwe Okoro

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Something that I found astonishing about the country of Nigeria is that sixty percent more oil than the US but is not nearly as wealthy.

His story

Chinwe Okoro is a 26 year old man from the remote village of Okpuje in Nigeria. His education was cut short since his father died when he was young forcing him to work as a farm laborer. He was able to get a 7 year apprenticeship in autoelectrical but now does not have the money for tools or to open his own shop, keeping him in the remote village to comtinue working as a laborer.

The country

As a country Nigeria only has a GDP of about 19 billion while the US has a GDP of about 13 trillion. The GDP per capita is also small with 1300 dollars. In the US this number is over 43 thousand dollars. As a country Nigeria consumes much less energy, ranking 37th in coal consumption and 52nd in CO2 emissions. in these catagories the US ranks 2nd and first respectivley. However Nigeria has sixty percent more oil than the US in reserves, but this does not reflect on the GDP. People also seem to be happier since when polled forty five percent said they were happy, while in the US only thirty nine ercent said they were happy. And finally Nigeria has one motor vehicle per one hundred people, while in the US there is a stagering 765 vehicles per one hundred people.



The bottom line is that Nigeria does have the natural resources like oil to make it into a rich nation, however they are not being used to their full potential leaving much of the nation in poverty.

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