A new poverty virus christened “Multi-dimensional” by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is currently consuming 63% or 133 million of the over 200 million population – and it is official!

The Breaking News released from the NBS Portal Thursday 17th November 2022, were the results of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Survey which was a collaborative effort between NBS, the National Social Safety-nets Co-ordinating Office (NASSCO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHDI).

The survey which sampled over 56,000 households across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022 and provides multidimensional poverty estimates at senatorial District level.

Although the polymathic index of the virus exceeded the World Bank’s 2018 projection, the good news is that this brand is not “terminal” by nature even when not less than three of every five rural Nigerian were already “infected”!

In its overview on Nigeria’s economy the global bank in that year believed that although Nigeria made some significant progress in socio-economic terms its human capital development remained weak due to under investment and that it ranked 152 of 157 countries in the world.

The report further stated that if international crude oil price slided below USD $50 dollars, Nigeria would go into recession and that by the year 2030, thirty million Nigerians would become poorest of the poor globally!

In simple deduction, the 30 million figure of the World Bank’s statistics which predicted future poverty Index in 2030, is a far cry to the Federal Government’s Survey astronomical figure of 133 million presently in existence – in the NOW!

BUT WE DISMISSED - OPPOSED THE “OBNOXIOUS” WORLD BANK REPORT AND THE UNITED NATIONS SIMILAR REPORT OF 2016!

In 2016 the United Nations report tagged Common Country Analysis (CCA) adjudged Nigeria as one of the poorest countries in terms of per capita income in the world.
In the year 2017 it was reported that poverty-stricken Nigerians depended mostly on remittances from the diaspora as economic crisis bit harder in the first quarter and also in June 2018 second quarter, Nigeria according to World Poverty Clock (WPC), revealed that the country had about 87 million people living in poverty as against India's 73 million!

The adage which states that every LIE has a terminal date has dawned on all of us who were antagonistic to the accuracy of the various international perception index and will henceforth repent!

Since previous LIES in respect of the state of the Nigerian economy had been exposed, the only option open to a nepotic, tribalistic, die-hard, impunistic, wicked, culpable, complicit and clueless APC Government under the Watch of the Major General Muhammadu Buhari, was to come out CLEAN!

NIGERIA'S PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM IS TOO CHEAP AND TOO CORRUPT!

The outgoing Major General Muhammadu Buhari promised in his desperation for a second term in 2019 that he would tackle poverty and will ensure that 100 million people were taken out of poverty in ten years at the rate of 10 million per annum – and now in 2022, the NBS says 133 million Nigerians are swimming in the ocean of poverty! Who is fooling who?

The National MPI Survey is 0.257 indicating that poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations.
Sixty-five per cent of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million), live in the South.
Poverty levels across States vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.

Over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensional poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than clean energy.
High deprivations are, also apparent nationally in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.

Also featured in the MPI Survey are that poorest States which included Sokoto, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Gombe and Yobe.
Two-thirds (67.5%) of children aged (0-17) are multi-dimensionally poor according to the National MPI and half (51%) of all poor people are children.
Twenty nine per cent (29%), of all school-age children are not attending School while 94% of all out-of-school children are poor. Child poverty reduction is top national policy according to the report.
In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most States.

In Nigeria 40.1% of people are poor according to the 2018- 2019 national poverty monetary line and 63% are multidimensional poor according to the National MPI 2022.

RURAL AND CHILD POVERTY ACROSS GEO-POLITICAL ZONES!

Multidimensional poverty is higher in the rural areas where 72% of the people are poor compared to 42% of people in urban areas.
The highest deprivations are in the indicator of child engagements – where over half of all children lack the intellectual stimulation that is pivotal to early childhood development. Child poverty is prevalent in rural areas with almost 90% of rural children experiencing poverty.

Across the geo-political zones the child MPIshows higher poverty in the North-East and North-West (where 90% of children are poor) and lower poverty in the South East and Southwest (74% and 65.1% respectively).
The incidence of child MPI is above 50% in all states and greater than 95% in Bayelsa, Sokoto, Gombe and Kebbi. Four million Nigerians – 2.1% of the population - live with a child aged 15-17 who is the first generation in that household to have completed primary School!

THE WAY OUT OF THIS QUAGMIRE IS A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THROUGH REFERENDUM THAT WILL PRODUCE A PRIME MINISTER AND FAITHFUL PARLIAMENTARIANS IN THE YEAR 2023 FROM ALL THE LOCAL COUNCIL AREAS OF NIGERIA!
VOX POPULI VOX DEI !

[WATCH OUT FOR A NIGERIAN PRIME MINISTER – NOT A PRESIDENT IN 2023!]


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, 08130669886, 08080243066. g-mail-dvdolufon@gmail.