Life expectancy in Nigeria has now increased from 46.1 in 1990 to 53.1 years in 2015, according to 2016 UNDP Human Development Report.

The report which was launched 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.

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

“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.”

He said that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) with focus on restoring growth, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy recently launched by the Federal Government outlined several medium-term policies and programmes that could keep Nigeria on a positive development trajectory.

Analyzing the report, 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.

He said though economic growth was important in driving up the HDI, other variables like the source and spread of growth; and how growth is managed and distributed for the benefit of everyone also counts.

Odhiambo 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.”