18112022

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 — 5
POCKET CARTOON
133 million Nigerians
poor - NBS
By Babajide Komolafe,
Economy Editor, Victor
Ahiuma-Young,
Emmanuel Elebeke, John
Alechenu and Elizabeth
Adegbesan
THE National Bureau
of Statistics, NBS
yesterday said that 133
million (63 per cent)
Nigerians are suffering
from multidimensional
poverty, with children
constituting more than half
of poor people in the
country.
This means that two (2)
out of every three (3)
Nigerians are poor and
experience just over onequarter
of all possible
deprivations in terms of
health, education, living
standards, and work and
shocks.
The NBS disclosed this
in the 2022
Multidimensional Poverty
Index, MPI, Report
launched on Thursday in
Abuja.
The MPI is the result
of the 2022
Multidimensional Poverty
Index (MPI) Survey carried
out by NBS and
development partners.
The survey was a
collaborative effort between
the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), the
National Social Safety-Nets
Coordinating Office
(NASSCO), the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the
United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), and the
Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative
(OPHI).
A breakdown of the
dimensions of poverty used
for the MPI includes:
Nutrition, Food insecurity,
Time to healthcare, School
attendance, Years of
•North-85m, South-47m; 66.5m children are poor•Sokoto
State tops with 91% poverty rate, Ondo State least poor with
27%• FG’ll use report to allocate resources-President
Buhari•NBS poverty report, not contestable—NECA•APC
leaving behind poverty legacy-PDP Campaign
schooling and School lag.
Others are Water, Water
reliability, Sanitation,
where 72% of people are
FG restate
poor, compared to 42% of
people in urban areas. commitment to
Housing materials,
“Approximately 70% of
Cooking fuel, Assets,
eradicating
Nigeria’s population live in
Unemployment,
rural areas, yet these areas poverty - Buhari
Underemployment,
are home to 80% of poor Meanwhile, President
Security shock
people; their intensity of Muhammadu Buhari has
Among other things the
poverty is also higher, at restated his unwavering
report showed that 65% of
42% in rural areas commitment to eradicating
poor people—86 million—
compared to 37% in urban poverty in the country,
live in the North, while
areas.
adding that the MPI
35%—nearly 47 million—
“Two-thirds (67.5%) of results will be used to
live in the South.
children aged 0–17 are poor influence the allocation of
According to the report,
according to the National resources going forward,
“multidimensional poverty
MPI, and half (51%) of all particularly to target sectors
is higher in rural areas,
poor people are children.” where most citizens suffer
Where poor people live, by state (number of poor people, million)
deprivations.
He added that the MPI
results will also serve as
both a measurement and
policy tool to monitor the
Federal Government’s
progress at achieving these
goal of lifting 100 million
people out of poverty within
10 years, in line with the
objectives of the SDGs and
the Africa Agenda 2063
Speaking at the launch of
the MPI report in Abuja,
President Buhari who was
represented by the Chief of
Staff to the President, Prof.
Ibrahim Gambari, said,
“This government
recognises the importance
of the data and the need to
deploy it in sharing your
story to a broad spectrum
of stakeholders, both
domestically and
internationally.
“Internally, we have now
deployed a comprehensive
Data Demand and Use
(DDU) strategy to embed
the use of evidence-based
and data driven poverty
reduction mechanisms. To
begin this deployment of
the data, let me share seven
reasons why Nigeria’s
multidimensional poverty
index is a powerful tool to
galvanise the kind of action
that will push us forward
to achieving the
Presidential mandate of
lifting 100 million out of
poverty, within the next
decade:
“First, the building blocks
of Nigeria’s MPI are a set
of deprivations that a
person experiences at the
same time. They relate to
dimensions like health,
education, living
standards, work, and
security. And so, the MPI
Continues on Page 35
Resurgence of kidnapping in the South West
By Esther Onyegbula
IN the last few
months, there has
been persistent kidnapping
in the Southwest
and it calls for urgent attention.
The Southwest
used to be the safest region
in the country. My
advice is that the governors
in the Southwest
should come together to
find a lasting solution to
the problem.
—Adeola Ekine,
Journalist
ONLY a few gover
nors are taking the
issues of insecurity seriously
in this country. Unfortunately,
victims of kidnapping
in the Southwest are
at the mercy of kidnappers.
Governors in the region
must do something quickly
before the situation escalates.
—Ayodele Oladimeji,
Entrepreneur
SADLY, insecurity
has become a major
challenge in our nation. I
suggest that there should
be a special task force comprising
all the security
agencies and local vigilantes
to tackle the resurgence
of kidnapping in the
Southwest. The situation
requires urgent attention.
—Obasi John,
Entrepreneur
G OVERNMENT
should act fast.
These bandits are fast advancing
both in technology
and methods of operation.
It is paramount that the
government should engage
security agencies as
well as foreign security intelligence
to arrest situations.
—Onome Naomi,
Blogger
THE security implica
tions of the criminal
concentration of kidnapping
at the Lagos Ibadan-Expressway
by men of the underworld
underscores an intractable
socio-economic obstruction
in that axis of the
country. This, of course, will
hinder economic activities
and may lead to the breakdown
of law and order.
—Evans Ufeli,
Lawyer
THE kidnapping of
commuters along the
Lagos Ibadan expressway
is a source of worry and
should attract the attention
of all concerned notably the
federal government, Lagos,
Ogun, and Oyo state governments
who should rise
to the occasion to confront
it with all the seriousness it
deserves.
—Nelson Ekujumi,
Activist