The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has said that 27.4 million Nigerians earn below N100,000 per annum.

It said the figure represented 48.9 percent of persons living in poverty in the country.

It made the declarations at the launch of a report entitled: “The Ignored Pandemic: How Corruption in the Health, Education and Water Sectors is Plunging Nigerians into Poverty.’’

Presenting the report in Lagos, Dr Elijah Okebukola, Senior Research Fellow at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, an arm of the ICPC said the report’s survey covered the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The report stated that 27.9 percent of Nigerians living in poverty (more than 15.6 million) earned between N100,000 and N200,000 per annum.

Also, it said 10.7 percent earned between N201,000 and N300,000 per annum while 12.5 percent earned more than N300,000 per annum.

“Poor people are victims and not perpetrators of corruption in the health, education and water sectors.

The report recommended the amendment of the 1999 Constitution to recognise the socio-economic rights of Nigerians to quality healthcare, education and clean water as legally enforceable human rights.

It also recommended an increase in investments in public health, education and water services and an improvement of transparency and quality of the information in government budgets.

SERAP also called on relevant anti-corruption agencies to jointly investigate and prosecute public officers allegedly involved in corruption in the education, healthcare and water sectors.