Africa's top oil producer needs at least $40 billion to meet MDGs

According to the BBC, more than half of all Nigerians live poverty (though it doesn't say what the standard is). This despite the fact that the country is one of the world's most important oil producers.

The poverty advisor to former president Olesegun Obasanjo recently said that Nigeria needs between $5bn to $7bn per annum to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015.

According to the UPI, Nigeria has taken in an estimated $300 billion in oil revenue since the 1970s, or an average of roughly $8 billion a year.

I suspect that if even half of those revenues had actually gone toward poverty reduction or other broad-based social programs, Nigeria would be in a lot better shape than it is now.