*80-year-old company becomes bankrupt *Workers kick against management

When Governor Adams Oshiomhole announced Chief Amos Osunbor as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the state-owned Edo Line Transport Company, little did he know that he had murdered sleep in the company. Crisis had since escalated in the 80-year-old company culminating in the workers shutting out the General Manager, Mr. Oludele Enaholo out of office for more than three months.

Edo Line Transport Company, which used to be the pride of transportation business in the Midwest Region in particular and Nigeria in general and during the defunct Bendel State now Edo State, is now a ghost of its former self. Broken down vehicles littered the premises. The workers have very little morale to work and the company is heavily indebted to the tune of over N1.2bn.

The workers, under the auspices of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees had since March, 2010 kicked against the naming of Chief Osunbor as the Board Chairman.

In different letters written to the Governor Oshiomhole, the workers alleged that the present predicament of the company started in 1999 when Chief Lucky Igbinedion, for the first time, appointed Board of Directors for the company which was headed by the same Chief Osunbor.

The workers in the letters dated March 22, August 20, and October 26, 2010 said before the appointment of the Board of Directors in 1999, “Edo Line was doing well by all standards. As a matter of fact, Edo Line was not owing any bank nor indebted to any motor-dealer. The salary structure for Edo Line was better and higher than what Edo State government was paying its workers in the state. The welfare of the workers like salary, leave, transport grants, medical allowance and gratuity were paid as and when due.

“The establishment was healthy financially to the extent that it has more than N500m in its deposit. But by the time he (Osunbor) was sacked, the company was heavily indebted to various banks in the state and motor dealers.”

The letter, signed by the union Chairman, Comrade Segun Okosun alleged that it was the poor management of the company and the poor relationship with the workers that the administration of Chief Igbinedion sacked the Board of Directors headed by Chief Osunbor.

They alleged that the Board members had assumed the day-to-day running of the company against the directive of Governor Oshiomhole that they should be concerned with policy formulation.

The letters read in part: “Board members are the ones carrying out the function of full time staff of Edo Line by traveling to the various stations at exorbitant cost at the expense of Edo Line. This present board has expended over N5.5m on traveling expenses for its members alone.

“The Board has also incapacitated the Account, Audit and Administration Departments in order to abuse the system and ensure that the company remains in the hands of the Board members.

“When this Board assumed office, Edo Line indebtedness to Union Bank was about N203m but as at today, this sum has risen to about N400m because of overdrafts drawn for unnecessary items.”

Continuing, the workers stated in the letter that the board members opened another account with the United Bank for Africa with the purpose of having unhindered access to the company’s fund.

Other allegations made against the Board members include indiscriminate transfer of workers, appointment of their stooges to sensitive positions in the company, withholding of workers’ promotions, indefinite suspension of 16 workers by the Board and its intention to retrench over 100 workers from the company.

A letter dated August 20, 2010 and signed by the Business Development Manager of the Union Bank, Mr. F.E Ekwuazu to the state Commissioner for Transport alleging diversion of funds by the Board of Directors and General Manager of the company to UBA was made available to Newsextra.



They alleged that the Board members had assumed the day-to-day running of the company against the directive of Governor Oshiomhole that they should be concerned with policy formulation.

The letters read in part: “Board members are the ones carrying out the function of full time staff of Edo Line by traveling to the various stations at exorbitant cost at the expense of Edo Line. This present board has expended over N5.5m on traveling expenses for its members alone.

“The Board has also incapacitated the Account, Audit and Administration Departments in order to abuse the system and ensure that the company remains in the hands of the Board members.

“When this Board assumed office, Edo Line indebtedness to Union Bank was about N203m but as at today, this sum has risen to about N400m because of overdrafts drawn for unnecessary items.”

Continuing, the workers stated in the letter that the board members opened another account with the United Bank for Africa with the purpose of having unhindered access to the company’s fund.

Other allegations made against the Board members include indiscriminate transfer of workers, appointment of their stooges to sensitive positions in the company, withholding of workers’ promotions, indefinite suspension of 16 workers by the Board and its intention to retrench over 100 workers from the company.

A letter dated August 20, 2010 and signed by the Business Development Manager of the Union Bank, Mr. F.E Ekwuazu to the state Commissioner for Transport alleging diversion of funds by the Board of Directors and General Manager of the company to UBA was made available to Newsextra.

Union Bank, in the letter said they were perturbed over the increased dwindling income being generated by the company since the inauguration of the present Board of Directors.

The letter reads: “They recently opened another account with UBA where all the daily income generated from the new buses purchased by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc are now being diverted.

“On August 17, 2010 only N60,000 was paid into their account with us against the usual N600,000 to N700,000 previously being lodged into the account on daily basis. Our investigation has further revealed that the General Manager and the Board opened this account for possible diversion of the company’s fund as the Financial Manager who is a supposed signatory to the company’s account was sidetracked.”

The letter stated that a vibrant new management is what the company needs if it will accomplish the purpose of its establishment.

It further urged the Commissioner to review the activities of the present Board of Directors and the General Manager to save the company from imminent collapse.

It was gathered that the letter written by the Union Bank to the Commissioner for Transport was not connected with the bank’s drive to collect the loan facility it granted to the company in 2008 for the purchase of 65 operational vehicles.

Reacting, Chief Osunbor said his removal as the Board Chairman of the company then was the result of the political battle between Chief Tony Anenih and Chief Igbinedion and not because of financial mismanagement.

He described Edo Line workers as being ‘possessed’, even as he added that the workers cannot dictate to state government who to appoint as the General Manager of the company.

Chief Osunbor made available to Newsextra the letter he wrote to the Commissioner for Transport defending the alleged diversion of fund to UBA by Union Bank management.

He said the report of a consulting firm engaged has revealed that the Union Bank had drawn more than N700m from the loan facility of less than N400m it granted the company.

Chief Osunbor said the Union Bank still claims that the company owes it over N400m.

The letter reads in part: “It is on record that the loan package between the Ministry of Transport and Union Bank Plc is dubious and was hurriedly put together without due legal diligence where millions of naira changed hands including two buses not supplied since 2008.

“The non-supply of these two buses till date is scandalous. Why Union Bank continued to charge interest, penalty, insurance and other hidden charges for vehicles not supplied is the height of irresponsible banking practice of a bank that pride itself big, strong and reliable.

“The Board owes no apology to Union Bank for diverting funds from old Union vehicles to UBA as it would be unwise to pay funds from old vehicles to Union Bank,” the letter reads.

Besides the Board of Directors, Edo Line workers were also not happy with the appointment of Mr. Oludele Enaholo as the General Manager of the company.

The workers said Enaholo was appointed by the Board of Directors to perfect plans by the Board to retrench over 100 workers.

One month after Enaholo resumed office as the GM, he had a running battle with workers union which demanded, among other things, promotion of staff, recalling of workers on suspension over alleged fraud and the reverting of some staff transferred.

The battle led to a strike action embarked upon by the workers which eventually kept Enaholo out of office for over three months.

However, a forceful attempt by Enaholo to come back was resisted by the workers until security was provided last Monday which saw Enaholo returned to office as GM.

Members of AUPCTRE responded by protesting through the street of Benin-City against the return of Enaholo saying they would not return to work until Enaholo was removed.

State Chairman of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE) Comrade Peter Odion Agbonkhese told Journalists that the General Manager, Mr. Enaholo was sacked by the administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion for fraudulent activities and for plunging the company into debt amounting to N1.2bn.

He said the workers would not return to work unless Mr. Enaholo was removed as the GM and listed the money owed the workers to include N40m for outstanding salary arrears, N7.9m for five years leave transport grants, N42.2m for five years medical allowance and N70.9m for non-payment of gratuity to retired staff.

He said: “Our sister company, the ECTS has transparent management. What we have seen in Edo Line is lack of transparency. We have been having recycled persons in the company. The same people were the same persons that run the company aground.

“Enaholo has been a conduit pipe through which fund was siphoned from the company. The problem is that the workers are now wiser.”

He stated that if the state government wanted Enaholo as the GM of the company, it should pay the workers their entitlement amounting to N5.2bn.”

The state Chairman of AUPCTRE wondered why the state governor would verbally order the sack of Enaholo at the meeting with the National body of AUPCTRE only to state again that Enaholo should go and resume as the GM.

Mr. Enaholo however described the allegations as puerile saying that the N1.2bn was the total debt the company owed since its inception 80 years ago.

He said the workers demand could not have been met one month after he resumed duty

The embattled GM, who was locked out of the company for three months by the workers said there were plan to close down what he “termed unproductive company” by the state government.

“If I had defrauded this place to the tune of N1.2bn, the records are there. Let them bring it out and use it to crucify me. I performed well in my stay here as acting GM in 2005. I did promotion for all the staff and paid some debts owed by the company.

“I don’t know what they mean by conduit pipe. The board has a statutory role to play in Edo Line. The Union members are being puerile. They don’t want to accept reality. The Governor knows they are mischief makers. Oshiomhole told them they should not tell him who to appoint into the Board. The Board stipend is only N25, 000.

We were generating between N20 and N22m every month. The earnings go to the bank. I can only withdraw for statutory purposes.” he explained.

Enaholo said the board opened the UBA account because the Union said it would not paying workers’ salaries again, adding that it was the recommendation of the Union Bank to downsize the workforce of the company.

Edo Line must not die under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole,

Some states ought not to exist at all and Edo is clearly one of them.

otokx:

Some states ought not to exist at all and Edo is clearly one of them.

You've got your facts wrong! Edo state is amongst the richest non-oil producing states in the country.

Just some facts for your digestion:

√ Benin Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the country after Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

√ Benin City has the highest number of Bank branches after Lagos and Port Harcourt.

√ Edo State produces one of the highest number of graduates in the country.

√ Edo State produces the highest number of doctors in the country.

√ Edo state has one of the highest per capita GDPs in the country.

√ There are 7 universities in Edo state.

√ Edo state has the second highest inflow of foreign remittances after Lagos state.

√ The best athletes, footballers and sportspersons in the country are from Edo and Delta state.

The list is endless. And I don't wanna bore you. If Edo state shouldn't exist, then Nigeria wouldn't have up to 5 states.


@Topic

There is no reason why Government should still be running inter city transport companies when the likes of Edegbe, Good is Good, Agofure et al, are doing a marvellous job. The company should be sold off on the cheap!!

This is why government should not be running companies.

PapaBrowne:

You've got your facts wrong! Edo state is amongst the richest non-oil producing states in the country.

Just some facts for your digestion:

√ Benin Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the country after Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

√ Benin City has the highest number of Bank branches after Lagos and Port Harcourt.

√ Edo State produces one of the highest number of graduates in the country.

√ Edo State produces the highest number of doctors in the country.

√ Edo state has one of the highest per capita GDPs in the country.

√ There are 7 universities in Edo state.

√ Edo state has the second highest inflow of foreign remittances after Lagos state.

√ The best athletes, footballers and sportspersons in the country are from Edo and Delta state.

The list is endless. And I don't wanna bore you. If Edo state shouldn't exist, then Nigeria wouldn't have up to 5 states.


@Topic

There is no reason why Government should still be running inter city transport companies when the likes of Edegbe, Good is Good, Agofure et al, are doing a marvellous job. The company should be sold off on the cheap!!

If wishes were horses. Okay! shame me with comparative links, data, statistics. One-of-the is too vague a cache phrase

10 least-affected by poverty states in Nigeria

Incidence of poverty by state (lowest poverty-stricken states)
1. Anambra
2. Bayelsa
3. Abia
4. Oyo
5. Imo
6. Rivers
7. Enugu
8. Ogun
9. Osun
10. Akwa Ibom
Where is Edo

Report rates Jigawa poorest in Nigeria
From Martin Oloja, Abuja
JIGAWA State has been adjudged the poorest in the country. It leads nine other northern states as the poorest in the country.

This was contained in statistics released on Tuesday at a Stakeholders Forum on the Economy where vital figures were released on the Obasanjo Administration Reforms and outcomes covering 1999 to 2004.

The forum, presided over by President Olusegun Obasanjo, had key drivers of the Obasanjo economic reform agenda presenting data on various sectors of the country's economy. One of them was the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.

One of the revelations is that Lagos State remains the engine room of the country's economy contributing a whopping 48 per cent of deposit, and 69.96 per cent of total loans in Nigerian banks.

Abuja with heavy government presence in monetary transaction comes a distant second with only 16.86 per cent of deposits and 4.6 per cent of total loans.

According to the 2006 census result, the North leads with a total population of 75,025,166 while the South follows not so closely with 64,978,376 in a result that puts Nigeria's population at 140,003,542.

One of the reports on the economy released to the forum held at the State House Banquet Hall revealed that the Northern part of the country is poorer with Jigawa State on top of the league closely followed by Kebbi State. Others in descending order are Kogi, Bauchi, Kwara, Yobe, Zamfara, Gombe, Sokoto and Adamawa.

In contrast, Bayelsa, with the lowest population figure in the entire South, tops the list of "10 states with the lowest incidence of poverty (Richest States)".

In economic terms, Bayelsa State has the highest per capita income rate in the country followed, interestingly by the politically traumatised Anambra State.

Abia State, comes third, others in this category of "Richest States" are: Oyo, Imo, Rivers, Enugu, Ogun, Osun and Edo.

States not listed by researchers are said to be within the range of mediocrity, neither poor, not rich.

According to the report, which did not blame any governor or any governance factors, even individuals in all the geo-political zones were asked to state how poor they felt they were.

But there is a wide disparity between the verdict of the respondent and the actual incidence of poverty with respondents indicating a higher degree of poverty.

On the state of economic activities in the geo-political zones, the North performs poorly.

All the three zones in the North (excluding FCT), according to the report, have less bank deposit than the South zones.

According to the report: "The poverty status in turn is highly correlated with Adult literacy rates; size of average household; orientation to private sector-led wealth creation as opposed to dependence on government or few people; active intervention of States/Local Governments towards empowerment of the people, etc"

On the performance of the economy, the report claims that "poverty incidence is down from 70 per cent in 1999 to 54 per cent in 2004, but the regions differ, "

In a rider to the report, the researchers indicate that poverty is strongly correlated with size of household and level of education".

But the report is unmistakable in the final analysis that the status of poverty in the polity has been largely enhanced by low productivity in the North.

Papabrowne:

Literacy levels in Nigerian states. Here I agree with you that many in Edo can read and write but that is number 4 in the national ranking

Source: NBS, General Household Survey, 2007
NBS=National Bureau of Statistics
Lagos
Rivers
Abia
Edo
Anambra
Akwa Ibom
Ondo
Imo
Bayelsa
Delta
Kano
Enugu
Cross River
Osun
Benue
Gombe
Ogun
Ekiti
Plateau
Oyo
FCT
Ebonyi
Kogi
Bauchi
Kaduna
Jigawa
Nasarawa
Adamawa
Kwara
Borno
Taraba
Sokoto
Niger
Zamfara
Katsina
Kebbi
Yobe
Urban
Rural
National

I agree completely with Mariory that the government has no business running transportation in Nigeria. The Edo line workers are so non-chalant and full of attitude since they assume they have nothing to lose personally. Once my cousin had a fight with them travelling from P.H. to Benin. The drivers loaded a generator set with fuel right at his back and when he objected to it they raised hell. My cousin had to raise hell too and asked for refund which they objected to and the police became involved. Eventually he got refunded and had to use other means of transport. To be fair though Edo line was even better compared to other state-run trans systems. They tried in reaching 80 years (but the 80 years claim is fabulous, since Nigeria is not even 80 years old as in independent state).

igbobuigbo:

If wishes were horses. Okay! shame me with comparative links, data, statistics. One-of-the is too  vague a cache phrase

10 least-affected by poverty states in Nigeria

Incidence of poverty by state (lowest poverty-stricken states)
1. Anambra
2. Bayelsa
3. Abia
4. Oyo
5. Imo
6. Rivers
7. Enugu
8. Ogun
9. Osun
10. Akwa Ibom
Where is Edo

He never mentioned poverty so I don't see why you're even bringing that up. His (Papabrowne's) first 6 points were correct. Threads on this forum listing rankings of GDP and numbers of school applicants admitted have put Edo around 6th or 7th on GDP and 3rd or 4th on school grads though I can't be bothered to dig up the exact threads right now. Don't know about his last two claims (remittances and sports) and where he got the data for those, though I would be interested in seeing him back up those claims. Also, with regard to the doctors thing, its extremely plausible that Edo does produce one of the highest number of doctors given the number of universities in the state but I haven't seen the data for that either. Anyways, saying "Edo state should not exist" seems rather moronic to me. There are states like Ebonyi, Kwara, and many Northern states that aren't doing too well and which could be divided and split up between the states around them.

PhysicsQED:

He never mentioned poverty so I don't see why you're even bringing that up. His (Papabrowne's) first 6 points were correct. Threads on this forum listing rankings of GDP and numbers of school applicants admitted have put Edo around 6th or 7th on GDP and 3rd or 4th on school grads though I can't be bothered to dig up the exact threads right now. Don't know about his last two claims (remittances and sports) and where he got the data for those, though I would be interested in seeing him back up those claims. Also, with regard to the doctors thing, its extremely plausible that Edo does produce one of the highest number of doctors given the number of universities in the state but I haven't seen the data for that either. Anyways, saying "Edo state should not exist" seems rather moronic to me. There are states like Ebonyi, Kwara, and many Northern states that aren't doing too well and which could be divided and split up between the states around them.

1. To begin with he did say Edo is among the richest states. I do not know what he meant by being rich when Edo is not among the 10 states with lowest poverty levels

2. Contrary to his claims, Edo is an oil producing state and part of the 9 oil producing ND states. So his classification was wrong ab initio. He claims Edo has the highest # of banks outside Lagos and I ask him to show proof. Let him tell us how many industries are in Edo state that makes it a rich state. Let him tell us how many Edo people compared to other states that are outside of Edo doing anything that can yield substantial returns back to Edo. I am not talking of 10-10 Euro asheys on the streets of Holland, Brussels and Italy. Those will first have to refund the money they used to secure visas for them before they can remit anything home. Read what Prof Falola said here about remittances to Nigeria by Nigerians abroad (posted in the nest post below)

There may be 7 universities in Edo (something he also has to prove, since I know only of 4), but how many of the students are not from Edo state? Notice how he lumps Delta with Edo per # of athletes. Who are the so-called best athletes/footballers/sportspersons from Edo compared to others states in the south? The North is a basket case in this one, I agree. Edo cannot be among the first 5 with highest graduation rate in Nigeria. Let him also prove that.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/19/15.html
Nigerians in Diaspora remit $1.7bn home yearly
From Simeon Nwakaudu, Makurdi

NIGERIANS in the Diaspora remit over $1.7 billion yearly to family members and friends at home, an avenue of finance that can be exploited by the Federal Government for national development.



advertisement

This disclosure was made by Prof. Toyin Falola of the University of Texas, Austin, United States (U.S.), during a public lecture he delivered at the Benue State University, Makurdi on Thursday.

Speaking on the topic "Citizens at Home, Citizens Abroad and the Globalisation of Knowledge," Falola declared that Nigerians in the Diaspora make huge remittances that could be translated to the good of the nation annually.

Falola, who was invested with the Julius Nyerere Professorial Chair of Modern African History by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Paul Akase Sorkaa, on the same day, disclosed that during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, he suggested the introduction of a Diaspora Tax for Nigerians abroad, especially in the West, as their contribution to national development.

However, he stated that such a tax might be impracticable because of the challenges of corruption and the application of resources that may accrue there from.

He said: "If the Nigerian Civil War had taken place 20 years after the time it took place, it would have lasted more than three years because the Igbo in United States alone can finance the entire civil war."

Falola noted that several countries of the world have taken advantage of their large Diaspora communities to finance development back home, saying that Nigeria should do the same.

He stated that the State of Israel came into being and was nurtured into the technological giant it is today through the financial contributions of its Diaspora community in the U.S.

Falola also cited the Philippines as a country where highly qualified nurses are trained and sent out to work in other countries and pay Diaspora taxes to their home country for its growth.

He regretted that in Africa, the situation is such that highly qualified professionals were trained only for them to migrate to other developed nations, due to harsh economic realities, where they contribute to strengthen the economies of their host countries.

The don stated that Africa lost 13 million of its citizens to the developed world through slavery, while the harsh economic realities of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) drove another 15 million to Western countries in the 1980s.

Falola said: "I am proposing the practical and academic integration of Africa with its Diaspora citizens in many ways that ideas, goods and people can freely circulate for the upliftment of all so that we can move to the centre of world history."

In his remarks, Prof. Sorkaa said the university was moving towards collaborating with the Nigerian intelligentsia in the Diaspora to develop a stronger academic environment that would help the nation.

The bolded part of the above quote indirectly informs on who sends money home substantially

http://www.firstbanknigeria.com/GetHelp/BranchATMLocator/tabid/115/Default.aspx

On claim about the number of bank branches, let us use one of the biggest banks, FBN, as a case study and compare Edo and a few other states outside Lagos

FBN Branches in Abia = 13


FBN Branches in EDO = 14

in Anambra =18

Oyo = 20
Enugu = 13

Infact Edo is next to Oyo which is next to Anambra in terms of overall bank numbers as you can read from the news below

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15924:ten-states-host-63-percent-of-all-bank-branches-in-nigeria&catid=171:national&Itemid=617

Ten states host 63 percent of all bank branches in Nigeria
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 01:00 Anonymous
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•Banks have 3,190 branches

Ten states in Nigeria host 63 percent of all bank branches in the country. This is based on an analysis contained in the Nigerian Banks Financial Transparency Report 2010. The analysis covers the 14 banks not affected by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) change of management, quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and which had published their 2009 annual reports.
The analysis shows that the 14 banks analysed have a total of 3,190 branches and cash centres in all the states in Nigeria. State by State analysis however showed that 63 percent of these branches are located in the following ten states: Lagos, Abuja FCT, Rivers, Anambra, Oyo, Edo, Ogun, Delta, Kano and Kaduna.
These states could also easily qualify as the commercial centres in their various regions: Lagos , Ogun, and Oyo in the South -West, Abuja FCT which is Nigeria’s seat of power, Anambra in the South - East, Rivers in the South- South oil states, and Edo and Delta in the former Mid-western region.


Analysis of bank branch locations in the report shows a heavy concentration of bank branches in Lagos with 31 percent of all bank branches in Nigeria. Almost all the banks have a heavy presence in Lagos, a confirmation of its position as the nation’s commercial hub. Access Bank has the highest concentration of its bank branches in Lagos with an average of 40 percent of all its branches, while Unity Bank has the least concentration in Lagos with just 17 percent of all its branches.


Abuja, Nigeria’s political capital, has the second highest concentration of bank branches with just six percent of all bank branches. Rivers State, which could be classified as Nigeria’s oil capital, has the third highest concentration of bank branches with about 5 percent of all bank branches in the country.
Anambra State, the commercial hub of the South- East, has the fourth highest concentration of bank branches.
The bottom four states in terms of bank branch locations in the country were Ebonyi, Kebbi, Jigawa and Zamfara states; each with less than one percent of bank branches in the country in 2009.

igbobuigbo:

1. To begin with he did say Edo is among the richest states. I do not know what he meant by being rich when Edo is not among the 10 states with lowest poverty levels

2. Contrary to his claims, Edo is an oil producing state and part of the 9 oil producing ND states. So his classification was wrong ab initio. He claims Edo has the highest # of banks outside Lagos and I ask him to show proof. Let him tell us how many industries are in Edo state that makes it a rich state. Let him tell us how many Edo people compared to other states that are outside of Edo doing anything that can yield substantial returns back to Edo. I am not talking of 10-10 Euro asheys on the streets of Holland, Brussels and Italy. Those will first have to refund the money they used to secure visas for them before they can remit anything home. Read what Prof Falola said here about remittances to Nigeria by Nigerians abroad (posted in the nest post below)

There may be 7 universities in Edo (something he also has to prove, since I know only of 4), but how many of the students are not from Edo state? Notice how he lumps Delta with Edo per # of athletes. Who are the athletes from Edo compared to others states in the south? The North is a basket case in this one, I agree.

1. "Richest" is not a specific term, so I don't see why we should squabble about whether he meant least number of poor people , i.e having one of the lowest poverty levels or whether he meant producing a greater amount of "wealth" (value of goods and services) than other states. I choose the latter interpretation simply because he specifically mentioned GDP and number of banks to back up this "richest" claim. I don't see how you could bring up poverty level when somebody else brings up banks and GDP. As far as richness, I hope you don't really believe that Bayelsa, even with its oil, could actually be called richer than Edo state merely because it has a lower proportion of impoverished people. I'm also going to hold off on saying that those statistics are unreliable.




2. Edo state is barely an oil producing state. In fact its oil contributions are so negligible  (less than 1% of the oil revenue of Nigeria) that he is not really wrong in saying it is not an oil producing state. Edo is irrelevant to oil in Nigeria and its classification into the Niger Delta oil producing states was a political move by Obasanjo to conflate the real Niger delta with Ondo, Edo, Abia, Imo, etc. and other states that are irrelevant to oil. The real Niger Delta consists of Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa and nothing more. As for how many industries make it a rich state, going by your definition of rich as lowest poverty level (note that that makes no sense, since one state could have very little poverty but also very little richness, i.e., no extremes, just middle ground) how many industries are in Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Osun states are there to make them "richer" than Edo state? Who has all the time and the knowledge to list all the industries in a state? I consider that question not worth my time. The relative richness question was answered by GDP.  As for banks, I don't know where that claim is from, but he means Benin City and not Edo state no doubt (since he compared Lagos and Port Harcourt (a city, rather than a state)) and while entirely plausible, it rests on him showing proof. I don't have data on how many bank branches are in each city and I don't see how anyone would know unless they conducted a very time consuming (and somewhat pointless, actually) study.


As for athletes, I don't know where he got that one. There's no way to verify, once one identifies a footballer or track star or whatever with an Edo name, that there is a greater proportion of these than there are Igbos from a particular southeast state, or Yorubas from a particular southwest state. Maybe he means famous athletes, but even then, the same thing I just said applies.

As for universities, there are only four, so he was incorrect on that point (the rest are polytechnics and colleges) and clearly conflated polytechnics with universities, but four is more than you can say for many other states with similar population. As for how many are from Edo state, once again I consider that question bizarre and not worth my time as there are no such statistics or studies done. People don't even know the number of people in school in Lagos or other western states that aren't indigenous and you think anybody would spend their time finding out how many are in Edo state that are from other states? The fact that Universities were set up  or sprang up in those places in Edo state (Igbinedion, Benson Idahosa, Ambrose Alli) in the first place when they simply might not have, as is the case  in Delta state, buttresses his point that Edo state is one of the more viable states in the Federation. People in Afemailand are looking to set up a private Afemai university even, but don't yet have the money.

igbobuigbo:

The bolded part of the above quote indirectly informs on who sends money home substantially

That doesn't prove anything actually. I hope you are not comparing a population of about 4 million to a population of more than 20 million. He talked about states and not whole regions. I too would like to see the data backing his claim of second after Lagos state because I don't believe it but your argument here is very poorly constructed. I hope you don't think more people in say, Ebonyi, a poorer state than Edo with a similar population, are necessarily sending more remittances than Edo because one prof. says the Igbo (20 + million) in general could finance a major war. That doesn't follow.

^^^^^
Since he has no SPECIFIC facts and figures (comparatively-speaking ) and you have pooh poohed most of his claims, like I did, and many more of them were flat out lies or exaggerations, then his whole premise was wrong, to begin with. Even in the GDP data on wiki, Edo is not among the first 6 so again he went balloning things out of proportion. Edo gets some money for being oil-producing. Even if little, many other states do not get any of such. Benin city ALONE does not constitute Edo state so that punctures also his bank number claims. Or shows that outside of Benin Edo is dead. I only took him up because I detest that lies, half truths or exaggerations be allowed to perpetrate and soon become truths.

igbobuigbo:

http://www.firstbanknigeria.com/GetHelp/BranchATMLocator/tabid/115/Default.aspx

On claim about the number of bank branches, let us use one of the  biggest banks, FBN, as a case study and compare Edo and a few other states outside Lagos

FBN Branches in Abia = 13


FBN Branches in EDO = 14

in Anambra =18

Oyo = 20
Enugu = 13

Infact Edo is next to Oyo which is next to Anambra in terms of overall bank numbers as you can read from the news below

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15924:ten-states-host-63-percent-of-all-bank-branches-in-nigeria&catid=171:national&Itemid=617

Ten states host 63 percent of all bank branches in Nigeria
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 01:00 Anonymous
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•Banks have 3,190 branches

Ten states in Nigeria host 63  percent of all bank branches  in the country. This is based on an analysis contained in the Nigerian Banks Financial Transparency Report 2010. The analysis covers the 14 banks not affected by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) change of management, quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and which had published their 2009 annual reports.
The analysis shows that the 14 banks analysed have a total of 3,190 branches and cash centres in all the states in Nigeria. State by State analysis however showed that 63 percent of these branches are located in the following ten states: Lagos, Abuja FCT, Rivers, Anambra, Oyo, Edo, Ogun, Delta, Kano and Kaduna.
These states could also easily qualify as the commercial centres in their various regions: Lagos , Ogun, and Oyo in the South -West, Abuja FCT which is Nigeria’s seat of power, Anambra in the South - East, Rivers in the South- South oil states, and Edo and Delta in the former Mid-western region.


Analysis of bank branch locations in the report shows a heavy concentration of bank branches in Lagos with 31 percent of all bank branches in Nigeria. Almost all the banks have a heavy presence in Lagos, a confirmation of its position as the nation’s commercial hub. Access Bank has the highest concentration of its bank branches in Lagos with an average of 40 percent of all its branches, while Unity Bank has the least concentration in Lagos with just 17 percent of all its branches.


Abuja, Nigeria’s political capital, has the second highest concentration of bank branches with just six percent of all bank branches. Rivers State, which could be classified as Nigeria’s oil capital, has the third highest concentration of bank branches with about 5 percent of all bank branches in the country.
Anambra State, the commercial hub of the South- East, has the fourth highest concentration of bank branches.
The bottom four states in terms of bank branch locations in the country were Ebonyi, Kebbi, Jigawa and Zamfara states; each with less than one percent of bank branches in the country in 2009.

Well, I see someone has conducted a very time consuming and pointless study and told us things we already know. In fact the statement

These states could also easily qualify as the commercial centres in their various regions: Lagos , Ogun, and Oyo in the South -West, Abuja FCT which is Nigeria’s seat of power, Anambra in the South - East, Rivers in the South- South oil states, and Edo and Delta in the former Mid-western region.

is moronic because Edo and Delta are the former Midwestern region.

Anyways, this article only confirms Papabrowne's point, though in the zeal to make it he exaggerated. Anyways, he obviously meant to compare cities but even then, Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, and would come before Benin in this category. And in the case of Anambra over Edo state, that could be explained by Onitsha + Nnewi +Awka, though not necessarily just one just by itself, unless I could see reliable statistics otherwise.

^^^^
Does Lagos REALLY have the highest rate of foreign remittance in Nigeria? How many Lagosians are there or do you count an Ekiti man who lives in Lagos, gets money from his brother in the USA via western union in Ikeja, takes the money home to Ado Ekiti to build a house? How does that count for Lagos? We all know that Lagos is a passing phase for most people there, no? I am not an economist, but in Nigeria where wealth is in the hands of very, very few, GDP PPP makes no meaning at all. What makes sense instead, is level of poverty, of which Edo is not among the least impoverished states. Lagos has the highest GDP PPP but also has some of the most impoverished Nigerians, all thanks to the skewness of wealth distribution.

igbobuigbo:

^^^^^
Since he has no facts and figures and you have pooh poohed most of his claims, like I did, and many more of them were flat out lies or exaggerations, then his whole premise was wrong to being with. Even in the GDP data on wiki, Edo is not among the first 6 so again he went balloning things out of proportion. Edo gets some money for being oil-producing. Even if little, many other states do not get any of such. Benin city ALONE does not constitute Edo state so that punctures also his bank number claims. I only took him up because I detest that lies, half truths or exaggerations be allowed to perpetrate and soon become truths.

Who says Benin = Edo state? Fact is, Benin is part of Edo state so it's going to come up in debate about whether Edo state has any value or not.

Suggesting Edo gets so much money for being oil-producing when in fact, it gets 1% of 13% (.0013) all oil revenue while states like Ondo, Imo, Abia, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa get more than that and then saying "many other states do not get any of such" weakens your argument that "his whole premise is wrong to begin with". Of those states mentioned only Imo and Abia have a higher GDP with a similar population (actually, a slightly higher population for Imo state) but those states get more from their oil derivation than Edo state so they would even have more to work with, if well-governed, in producing a higher GDP.

Edo state has a GDP approximately 3 times that of Bayelsa but does not have three times its population, yet you actually insinuated  that because of lower poverty rate Bayelsa could be put above Edo in terms of "richness". Now that is something that I would "pooh pooh."

Cross river and Edo I would say are at about the same level. Lagos State's population is much greater than Edo state so the GDP comparison should not even arise in this case. Delta, Rivers, Kano and Oyo have more than 1.5 times and nearly twice the population of Edo state (I'm ignoring the garbage that says Kano state's population is around or greater than 10 million because that is politically motivated but even if I took the ludicrous population figures of Kano state as genuine that would only help my case since their GDP isn't much better than Edo with their (supposed) massive population) but only Oyo and Kano are non-oil producing.

In fact, all that really needs to be said to evaluate whether Edo is a viable state compared to other states and one of the richer states s that:

a) it has a greater push for education than some (non-Northern, I'm ignoring them in this regard because they're irrelevant) states with equal or greater oil derivation and/or population (and level of education correlates positively with wealth/richness)

b) it is in fact an (but not the only or the main) economic center of the country, as the article you even posted alluded to.


c) it is either 24 or 27 out of 36 (depending on which census one goes by) in population, but has the 7th highest GDP (I like how you arbitrarily chose the "top 6" as the cutoff point for richness, clever) and some of those six states above it in GDP have considerably higher population (human resources) or oil derivation resources (financial capital).


Now, how many of his claims did I rubbish?

1. Benin Airport is one of the busiest in the country. I think it actually is 4th in this case so his claim is correct.

2. Benin City may or may not have the highest number of branches after Lagos and Port Harcourt. He provided no proof, but you provided no proof otherwise. Instead you pulled up data for states when he mentioned cities. Once again I don't believe it because he even ignored Abuja, but I clarified his claim while you distorted it. I didn't rubbish it. I just doubted that it could actually be proven on a city to city basis and believed there were one or two more cities that come before Benin in this regard.

3. If we assume, using the state of origin data bandied around here for number of applicants and admittances is in fact proportional to number of graduates as everyone on this board has been as assuming then in fact his third claim would be correct. as Edo would then produce one of the highest number of graduates.

4. I don't believe its THE highest number of doctors. Once again he exaggerates, perhaps based on claim number 3. Until he can provide proof this claim is incorrect.

5.  This claim is simply correct.

6. Incorrect.

7. Doubt that. No proof for this. So let's say incorrect.

8. Meaningless basically, how can anyone verify, as I said earlier that there are more Edo athletes that are from Edo state (and how would one know they weren't from Lagos, or Jos, or Port Harcourt or somewhere where an Edo family moved to) than there are Yoruba athletes from Osun state (who might not necessarily be indigenous). This is incorrect because it can't be proven.

So he got a 3/8.

Most claims were unverifiable, so I did "pooh pooh" most of his claims as you said but as I said earlier his basic premise is in fact solid, contrary to what you asserted (that it was wrong) with no evidence.

^^^^^
For a country like Nigeria with low production capacity (where high pop is useful), the smaller your population, the better your GDP ranking, not so? So states with bigger pop yet higher GDP than Edo are actually better. But again, GDP PPP in Nigerian context sucks as it gives a wrong impression since wealth is highly skewed toward very few. Measuring relative levels of poverty  is a more realistic measure of ''wealth'' in Nigeria. A score of 3/8 is a FAIL, no?

igbobuigbo:

^^^^
Does Lagos REALLY have the highest rate of foreign remittance in Nigeria? How many Lagosians are there or do you count an Ekiti man who lives in Lagos, gets money from his brother in the USA via western union in Ikeja, takes the money home to Ado Ekiti to build a house? How does that count for Lagos? We all know that Lagos is a passing phase for most people there, no? I am not an economist, but in Nigeria where wealth is in the hands of very, very few, GDP PPP makes no meaning at all. What makes sense instead, is level of poverty, of which Edo is not among the least impoverished states. Lagos has the highest GDP PPP but also has some of the most impoverished Nigerians, all thanks to the skewness of wealth distribution.

If an Ekiti man lives in Lagos, and his brother remits money to where he lives, the money is remitted there (Lagos), not Ekiti state. Now since far more people live in Lagos than anywhere else, assuming that Lagos gets the highest number of remittances is actually quite reasonable.

As for the poverty thing I answered that above. Hearing that Bayelsa is wealthier than Edo can only ever be justified in terms of saying that they have a more important natural resource in terms of oil. Anything else, whether talking about GDP in proportion to population or just GDP taken without consideration of population, makes Edo out to be "richer". GDP does correlate with "richness" in the sense that we have been using it in this discussion, so I would conclude that Edo state is richer than Bayelsa off of that alone.

If at the same time Bayelsa has a lower poverty rate than Edo, I could possibly conclude that Bayelsa has a greater proportion of people in between poverty and richness than Edo since Bayelsa does not have a GDP proportional to its population if it were to have the same GDP per capita as Edo state. That is, Bayelsa state population = around 2 million. Edo state population = around 3.5 million, but Edo state GDP = approximately 3 times that of Bayelsa.

igbobuigbo:

^^^^^
For a country like Nigeria with low production capacity (where high pop is useful), the smaller your population, the better your GDP ranking, not so? So states with bigger pop yet higher GDP than Edo are actually better. But again, GDP PPP in Nigerian context sucks as it gives a wrong impression since wealth is highly skewed toward very few. Measuring relative levels of poverty  is a more realistic measure of ''wealth'' in Nigeria. A score of 3/8 is a FAIL, no?

GDP per capita ranking will be higher with low population and similar or same GDP. Yes some states with bigger population and higher GDP will be better but it depends on how much better the GDP for a certain difference in population. Going off the wide-spread assumption that GDP correlates with richness or wealth, if Kano state does have 10 million people, but its GDP is only 0.5 billion more (12. 4 billion) than Edo state (11.9 billion) with a population of around 3.5 million, I think its easy for anybody to see that Kano state is not necessarily richer or "better" than Edo state, even if the capital city of Kano state might have gotten more government attention or money from the federal government (from somebody like say, Sani Abacha) and might look nicer or richer in many places.

And yes 3/8 IS a fail. Don't know why people see the need to exaggerate. I especially couldn't understand the athletes/sports claim exaggeration as that is not even relevant to richness or viability of a state.

The point is that the data available are full of discrepancies
This one below says Bayelsa is the richest in Nigeria, while Ebonyi  (considered the poorest in Igboland even by the blind) is the richest in the SE . I guess it has to do with low population vis-a-vis the available resources. In that case Lagos and Kano should be the poorest. Interestingly, the news was from 2007, the same year as the GDP data on wiki that we all love to cite.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200712315132632

Bayelsa is Nigeria’s richest state
By Atser Godwin
Monday, 31 Dec 2007
 
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The 36 states of the federation shared about N1.2tn between January and October with Bayelsa State emerging the richest on a per capita basis.

With a population of about 1.7million, Bayelsa received about N71.8bn from the Federation Account during the period, documents from the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation showed.

“On per capita basis, the amount translated to N42,235 per person,” the documents showed.

Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income that is generated in their country or state through productive activities. But in this case, the period covers the first 10 months of 2007.

Although Rivers State received the largest chunk of N167.6bn during the period, it came second on a per capita basis.

With a population of about 5.2 million, analysis showed that the state came second among the wealthiest states with a per capita of N32, 231.

Akwa Ibom and Delta states came third and fourth on a per capita basis with N28, 410 and N19,000 respectively.

Akwa Ibom, with a population of about 3.9 million, received about N110.8bn while Delta State, with a population of about 4.1million, received about N77.9bn.

Although Kano and Lagos are the most populous in the country, they are the poorest on a per capita basis.

Kano had N3,883, per capita while Lagos had N4,633 having received about N36.5bn and N41.7bn respectively during the period.

Nassarawa is the richest state in the North; Ebonyi in the South-East, Ondo in the South-West on a per capita basis, the documents show.

Rising crude oil prices have helped to grow Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings during the period with prices of crude coming close to $100 per barrel.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude exporter, has seen crude production hit 2.18 million barrels per day from 2.15 mbd in the preceding quarter, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria in its third quarter economic report.

In spite of the huge revenues, the wealthiest states in the country are characterised by poor infrastructure and poverty.

Oil revenues have not translated to improved standards of living, according to a Human Rights Watch World Report released this year.

Development among the top wealthiest states has been slow with their past governors accused of corruption.

I still maintain that use of GDP is deceptive (you feel rich while you are actually poor), more so GDP PPP (the richness of a very few is attributed to the whole). Measure of relative poverty levels makes more sense in Nigeria.

The stats may indeed be useless. So this whole discussion may have been a waste of time.

Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the[b] yearly income that is generated in their country[/b] or state through productive activities.

Their GDP definition here seems wrong. That may be how they arrived at the "Ebonyi" is richest in southeast and Bayelsa is richest in Nigeria conclusion, though I'm not certain.

Anyways, Bayelsa gets 18% of 13% of oil revenue or about 2.3% of oil revenue. When you factor in the fact that they have less than 2 million people this means they get the highest oil-revenue per person. (Delta which gets 30% of 13% which is 3.9% of oil revenue, has more than three times the population of Baylesa and Akwa Ibom which gets 2.86% is nearly two and a half times the population of Bayelsa). That may explain the Bayelsa thing.

With regard to Ebonyi, I simply can't comprehend how they arrived at Ebonyi having one of the higher GDP per capita in Nigeria. It doesn't even have the highest GDP per capita in the southeast.

igbobuigbo:

I still maintain that use of GDP is deceptive (you feel rich while you are actually poor), more so GDP PPP (the richness of a very few is attributed to the whole). Measure of relative poverty levels makes more sense in Nigeria.

Perhaps, but I still don't buy the whole Bayelsa state richer than Edo state thing. I'd need more convincing evidence, but I can see your point of view on this. I don't feel that Edo emphasizes the rich few and poor masses thing more than any other part of Nigeria, including Bayelsa, so I would feel the GDP comparisons would be valid until it could be shown that the reason a state had a higher GDP was due to the greater concentration of a rich few in that state compared to another state. But like I said before, the stats may indeed be useless.

Before Alams came on board, nobody in Bayelsa was known in terms of wealth (stolen or earned) compared to Edo having big guns like Igbinedions, Akhigbes, Aikhomus,  etc and all those transport company owners. Those, plus the Italo connection . From videos of interviews I have watched, the poverty in rural Edo is what drives the prosty business in Italo and other Euro states. Thus, I believe average people are well off in Bayelsa than Edo just Like I believe average people in Anambra are well off than most other naija states (Anambra and Bayelsa are two of the least impoverished states)according to UNDP and NAPEP.

This actual research paper, though not about Edo, is informative on poverty in Nigeria, considering that more than 70% of Nigerians live in the rural areas.

http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0002273/Human_Capital_Nigeria_Oct2005.pdf

Another data

Bayelsa, Anambra and Abia are the 3 states least affected by poverty

Malam Salihu Lukman is an Economist and Director of People and Passion Consult in Abuja. He attributed the high concentration of poverty in the North to the prolonged abuse of public resources by the northern political class. Excerpts:

Weekly Trust: As an Economist and activist in the area of poverty reduction, what is your reaction to the recent statement by the Central Bank governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo that high and persistent level of poverty in the country is a northern phenomenon and that the Federal Government should declare emergency on poverty in the North?

Salihu Muhammed Lukman: The statement by Soludo is an indictment on all those in government that have a role in the economic management process of this country. It is a wake-up call for those of us from the North to really commit ourselves for the umpteenth time to redress our own problems. Unfortunately, the reality as it is today, doesn’t suggest any commitment from both the government and the private sector. Remember that this is the second time that Soludo is raising this alarm. I remember that in January 2007 at an economic stakeholders’ meeting, he presented a grim statistics to buttress his point on the need to fight poverty in northern Nigeria. The statistics he presented showed the gloomy reality of poverty in the North. The three northern regions were reported to have an average poverty incidence of 70.1per cent as compared to 34.9 per cent for the three southern regions. What justifies the assertion that very high poverty is a northern phenomenon has to do with the facts that all the 10 states with the highest incidence of poverty are all northern states ,with Jigawa topping the list with 95 per cent, Kebbi, 89.7 per cent; Kogi, 88.6 per cent ; Bauchi, 86.3 per cent; Kwara, 85.2 per cent; Yobe, 83.3 per cent; Zamfara, 80.9 5 per cent; Gombe,77.0 per cent, Sokoto,76.8 per cent; Adamawa, 71.7 per cent respectively. This is in contrast with the lowest incidences which are all in the southern states with Bayelsa reportedly having the best comparative records of 20 per cent, Anambra, 20.1 per cent, Abia, 22.3 per cent ; Oyo, 24.1 per cent; Imo, 27.4 per cent; Rivers, 29.1 per cent ; Enugu, 31.1 per cent ; Ogun, 31.7per cent ; Osun, 32 per cent and Edo, 33.1 percent.

Although some may not agree with these figures, but it is hardly contestable. Professor Soludo’s statistical revelation means that 70 per cent of the people living in the North live below one dollar per day, which means N129 per day. In order words, these are people who earn below N3, 870 per month. This is less than the N5,500 legislated national minimum wage. Taking the 2006 Census into consideration, it means that 52,592,641 million citizens living in the North are poor. Ever since these figures were released by Soludo, there have been silence among the so-called champions of the North and even among the media especially because of the fact that poor management of resources at all levels is the greatest undoing. Another very shocking revelation by Soludo has to do with the issue of savings. According to him, the whole North excluding the FCT, "have lesser bank deposits than the South-South zone alone. Second, the North (again excluding the FCT) accounts for approximately only 10.75 per cent of deposits and 8.5 per cent of bank loans. While this may not present an objective measure of the level of economic activities, it is to some extent, indicative of the volume of formalised activities.

igbobuigbo:

Before Alams came on board, nobody in Bayelsa was known in terms of wealth (stolen or earned) compared to Edo having big guns like Igbinedions, Akhigbes, Aikhomus,  etc and all those transport company owners. Those, plus the Italo connection   . From videos of interviews I have watched, the poverty in rural Edo is what drives the prosty business in Italo and other Euro states. Thus, I believe average people are well off in Bayelsa than Edo just Like I believe average people in Anambra are well off than most other naija states (Anambra and Bayelsa are two of the least impoverished states)according to UNDP and NAPEP.

Yes, but the people you mentioned, are they billionaires (U.S. dollars)? There's billions of difference in Bayelsa GDP and Edo GDP. As for the average person in Bayelsa compared to the average person in Edo, for whatever reason whoever wrote the Bayelsa article on wiki (a Bayelsa person, no doubt) felt the need to point out that the majority of Bayelsans live in poverty and even pointed out that poverty alleviation schemes there had failed, and that there was little commerce there.

Economy

Bayelsa State has one of the largest crude oil and natural gas deposits in Nigeria. As a result, petroleum production is extensive in the state. However, the majority of Bayelsans live in poverty. They are mainly rural dwellers due to its peculiar terrain and lack of adequate transportation, health, education or other infrastructure as a result of decades of neglect by the central governments, state governments, and petroleum prospecting companies. This has been a large problem in the state since its creation and successive state governments have not been able to address and repair the issue. The state, as a result, has an almost non-existent commerce. Successive state governments have, however, embarked on various industrial projects (even venturing into the oil and gas sector), and "poverty-alleviation" programs to reverse this situation,accordingly this are only on paper. there's nothing on ground to show for huge sums of money spent for development by successive and present state governments.

The local population engage in fishing on a subsistence and commercial level. The Bayelsa State government is otherwise the main employer of labor in the state.

For whatever reason the person that wrote the wiki article on Edo state didn't feel the need to do the same. I'll leave you to reach the conclusions and inferences that can be drawn from this.  

igbobuigbo:

Another data

Bayelsa, Anambra and Abia are the 3 states least affected by poverty

Malam Salihu Lukman is an Economist and Director of People and Passion Consult in Abuja. He attributed the high concentration of poverty in the North to the prolonged abuse of public resources by the northern political class. Excerpts:

Weekly Trust: As an Economist and activist in the area of poverty reduction, what is your reaction to the recent statement by the Central Bank governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo that high and persistent level of poverty in the country is a northern phenomenon and that the Federal Government should declare emergency on poverty in the North?

Salihu Muhammed Lukman: The statement by Soludo is an indictment on all those in government that have a role in the economic management process of this country. It is a wake-up call for those of us from the North to really commit ourselves for the umpteenth time to redress our own problems. Unfortunately, the reality as it is today, doesn’t suggest any commitment from both the government and the private sector. Remember that this is the second time that Soludo is raising this alarm. I remember that in January 2007 at an economic stakeholders’ meeting, he presented a grim statistics to buttress his point on the need to fight poverty in northern Nigeria. The statistics he presented showed the gloomy reality of poverty in the North. The three northern regions were reported to have an average poverty incidence of 70.1per cent as compared to 34.9 per cent for the three southern regions. What justifies the assertion that very high poverty is a northern phenomenon has to do with the facts that all the 10 states with the highest incidence of poverty are all northern states ,with Jigawa topping the list with 95 per cent, Kebbi, 89.7 per cent; Kogi, 88.6 per cent ; Bauchi, 86.3 per cent; Kwara, 85.2 per cent; Yobe, 83.3 per cent; Zamfara, 80.9 5 per cent; Gombe,77.0 per cent, Sokoto,76.8 per cent; Adamawa, 71.7 per cent respectively. This is in contrast with the lowest incidences which are all in the southern states with Bayelsa reportedly having the best comparative records of 20 per cent, Anambra, 20.1 per cent, Abia, 22.3 per cent ; Oyo, 24.1 per cent; Imo, 27.4 per cent; Rivers, 29.1 per cent ; Enugu, 31.1 per cent ; Ogun, 31.7per cent ; Osun, 32 per cent and Edo, 33.1 percent.

Although some may not agree with these figures, but it is hardly contestable. Professor Soludo’s statistical revelation means that 70 per cent of the people living in the North live below one dollar per day, which means N129 per day. In order words, these are people who earn below N3, 870 per month. This is less than the N5,500 legislated national minimum wage. Taking the 2006 Census into consideration, it means that 52,592,641 million citizens living in the North are poor. Ever since these figures were released by Soludo, there have been silence among the so-called champions of the North and even among the media especially because of the fact that poor management of resources at all levels is the greatest undoing. Another very shocking revelation by Soludo has to do with the issue of savings. According to him, the whole North excluding the FCT, "have lesser bank deposits than the South-South zone alone. Second, the North (again excluding the FCT) accounts for approximately only 10.75 per cent of deposits and 8.5 per cent of bank loans. While this may not present an objective measure of the level of economic activities, it is to some extent, indicative of the volume of formalised activities.

So is Bayelsa richer than Oyo and Enugu?

This is why we can't take lower poverty level to mean "richness" although it obviously correlates with "richness" in the grand scheme of things.

Abia State may have been in the news for the wrong reasons, but poverty rates are quite low and the citizens are quite industrious and educated.