ekt_bear:

1. When did private industry not get considered in GDP?
2. What % of GDP is fed allocation?
3. When did fed allocation = low poverty?

I suspect that you have no clue how they are even calculating poverty. And if you do, then kindly state the definition they are using explicitly.

I meant GDP is not = to low poverty; sorry for the error
Private industries will not be considered, I am sure, because those who compute GDP will rely on their owners to provide the basic data as to how much they are worth. No Nigerian middle-level private business man will do that. Most will claim they are poor to evade tax and all that.

Most GDPs except Lagos (because of more organized industries with accurate record keeping) will be 100% fed allocation, otherwise how can those impoverished northern states beat many southern states?

ekt_bear:

By that list, then the the SW is also less poor than the SS, is it not?

My suspicion is that they are using a sd/mean sort of calculation. Which is misleading, as this post (https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-773413.160.html#msg9282881) showed.

Anyway, 2nd lowest poverty rate in Nigeria + 2nd highest GDP (after SS) is fine by me.

No. It is equal with SS- 3 of 3 out of 6 of 6 in each case, no?

ekt_bear:

Do you agree that GDP/capita is higher in the SW than the SE? Or better, can you find a single organization or piece of data that suggests otherwise?

We can return to the discussion of how evenly wealth is distributed (variance), but I don't want you to be dancing back and forth between mean and variance trying to confuse the issue.

So again, do you agree that the mean income is higher in the SW than the SE? And if you do not, provide a single bit of evidence suggesting otherwise.

How does that relate to poverty levels which is what I am talking about here?

How can the GDP of Osun (no single viable industry) beat that of Anambra (with many industries,albeit private not considered in the GDP measurements) if not for fed allocation? Fed allocation = low poverty, Got that?

All poverty data supports me. Shikena

ekt_bear:

@ch101: Even using that list, 30% of the least poor states in Nigeria are in the SW.

So how can it be the poorest region, even under whatever definition of poor they are using?

Who says it is the poorest? The North is the poorest, but the SW is poorer than the SE despite:
1. Greater allocation from the feds
2. More billionaires in the SW than SE

It is BTW, 30% of 10 states only, though I understand what you mean.

ekt_bear:

GDP of the SW, as measured by every organization I've seen is way higher than that of the SE.

Even adjusting for the higher population of the SW zone versus the SE, GDP/capita is higher.

I'm pretty sure I've calculated this on NL before. Google NL for the thread.

Back to GDP again? Na waoh! GDP money wey dey for only 3 persons hands while 40 million suffer. My friend you disappoint me. kAI!!!
GDP based on fed allocation which gives more to the SW than SE due to many factors inclusing more states in the SW than SE? Learn, dude.

nolongTing:

You can't even construct a sentence, so i can see why you are afraid of superior knowledge.  You @chy101 and @South-East love to indulge in copying and pasting of YORUBA Articles that contain a minute reference to your pipe dreams - Dummies  

You live in absolute denial.

ekt_bear:

For all we know, the two zones statistics look like this:

Zone                            SW  SE
Mean income                     X   .8X
standard dev of income          Y   .7Y

and they conclude that "poverty" in the SW is higher because Y/X > .875 Y/X


But most would choose the former zone over the latter any day of the week.

What is the evidence that Yorubas live better lives than Igbos? The average Yoruba is poorer so where is the better life coming from? Or do you imply that Adenuga and Tinubu are average Yorubas?

bashy_demy:

and i can bet my life all fake schools together in IBOland will be more than 100 thousand

Lai lai. The list of fake schools in Tthe SW is more than I posted up there. There are 150K more out there. I no just wan burst nairaland server. In yorubaland, paper certificate is all the matters, so they go to any length to forge everything on earth.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201106221185.html

Daily Independent (Lagos)
Nigeria: Asobie Explains Poverty in Yorubaland

Oladele Ogunsola

21 June 2011
 
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Ibadan — It has been observed that the continued reliance on income from the Federation Account by successive governments in the South-West geo-political zone of the country has only further impoverished the people.

Former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Assisi Asobie, made the observation on Tuesday at a two-day capacity building workshop for civil society organisations in the South West zone with the theme "Channeling Extractive Resources for National Development".

At the workshop organised by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Asobie, who is the chairman of the initiative, lamented that non-exploitation and harnessing the natural resources of the South-West region by successive governments in the region had been responsible for the rise in the poverty rate of Yoruba people.

He maintained that exploiting the natural resources of the zone remains the best bet in enhancing the state and national revenue as well as increasing the take of the region from the federation account through, among other things, benefitting from the derivation principle.

The purpose of the workshop, according to him, was to shore up the hold of the civil societies groups on their home government and revealed that the South West came second in the sharing of the federation account between regions in the country between June 1999 and June 2005 with N550, 526 billion which he noted represented 3.49 percent.

Finito. That is the gospel truth. The SW, like the North depends 100% on fed allocation. Fasola has changed a bit of this, I agree, for Lagos.
At the government level, Igbo states may be poor due to low allocation from the feds, but the citizens are not as poor as those from other regions because they are not idle. Now I declare this thread closed and for good reason

Another small piece of evidence

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article14//indexn3_html?pdate=191209&ptitle=Nigerians In Diaspora Remit $1.7 billion Home Yearly&cpdate=191209


Nigerians In Diaspora Remit $1.7 billion 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.

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.

nolongTing:

Are you implying that most Igbo people are criminals or that they don'y pay their taxes, which one? What do you mean by "informal"?

Economics 101 will define what informal sector means, you bloody ignorant illiterate.

ekt_bear:

I just want to know how the SW can be a poor zone when 30% of the states in the top 10 are in the SW

This is the problem when people want to play funny games where they don't show you all the data and interpret the bits they show you in a screwy manner

These games might work on others, but they don't work on me

I understand your plight. I wrote NAPEP to make available the complete data of poverty levels in Nigeria, but typical of ALL Nigerian things, they wont even reply me, even when I used my official email address so they know I am not asking from nowhere.

However, of the 10 states listed, SE has 4 (and their are 5 SE states) whiled SW has 3 (and we have 6 SW states), so who is better off on the basis of the available data?

Eko Ile:


All I need you to do is to back up your backward assertions with basic common sense and rational reasoning, your ramblings makes no sense.

You just claimed that ibo people are in the SW to only sell and by from ibo people in the SW, now it's a different story about hiring Yoruba people.

You still have to explain to us why these ibo people are not in ibo land with their so called wealth and also why they are not buying and selling to ibo people in ibo land and why they are not hiring ibo people in ibo land to keep ibo people in ibo land instead of trooping to the SW for their daily bread.


And please, we can not have a sensible and rational discussion with the the bogus and unverifiable claims about your plc, we all ibo people's primary trade in the SW is spare parts and other petty trading activities,

If you can not show us any credible investigative data about Yoruba people working for ibo business, please don't bother us with it.  

More traders and middle-level business people in Lagos are Igbo. So it simply implies that more of them will be bought from than from Yoruba. Yoruba buys from Igbo and vice versa but since more Igbos are selling, more will be bought from. God gave you sense (hopefully), use it.

This is an interesting Igbo economic history written by a Yoruba
http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/20-3/147-174.pdf

Quotes from:

THE IGBO ENTREPRENEUR IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NIGERIA
African Study Monographs, 20(3): 147-174, September 1999
Olanrewaju Akinpelu OLUTAYO
Department of Sociology, Faculty of the Social Sciences
University of Ibadan

it is known that the Igbo, when compared to the other major ethnic groups in Nigeria, are in the forefront of entrepreneurial activities, especially
in the informal sector

The Igbo, he argues, “placed a premium on occupational skill, enterprise and initiative,” upon which mobility is dependent. Individuals are motivated
to work hard and “cleverly marshal available resources of increasing wealth”so that more people, unlike among the Hausa and Yoruba, he points, have access to wealth, and wealth brings power rather than power bringing wealth. “The (Igbo) system,” LeVine asserts, “was a more favourable environment for the men with Achievement and is therefore likely to have produced a higher incidence of it in the male population.”

Nonetheless, and unlike in Kenya, Uganda, or Northern Rhodesia wherein “not a single African-owned and-operated manufacturing firm employing ten or more was recorded, ,” West Africa had, by the early 1960s “small manufacturing units employed in a given country anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 workers, ” (Kilby,
162 O.A. OLUTAYO ibid: 152). By 1965, large entrepreneurs employing as many as 200 employees had emerged. All of these entrepreneurs came from a non-farm economy, as nearly three-quarters of their fathers and two-fifths of their grand-fathers had gained their livelihood in the market economy. This is so for almost all the ethnic groups in Nigeria but moreso for Igbo entrepreneurs who had migrated in large numbers to urban areas all over the country. Since there were no traditional cities in Igboland, except Enugu, Onitsha, Umuahia, Port Harcourt, and Aba, all of which emerged with European contact, the Igbo migrated to urban centres outside their territory so that in the north where there were fewer than 3,000 Igbos in 1921. By 1931, the number had risen to nearly 12,000 and by 1952 to over 130,000. By 1952, they constituted almost half of the total non-indigenes of the Lagos Metropolis. (Anber, 1967: 170-171). The need to migrate, as we have persistently pointed out, had to do with the struggle to survive. This struggle to survive increased in a rapidly monetizing capitalist economy with emphasis on agriculture, for which they did not have enough land. Consequently, they had to migrate to urban areas as traders, shop-keepers, clerks, skilled workers, and domestic employees. They rose into white-collar positions in a short time, soon to cultivate an intellectual “elite consisting of educators, journalists, professionals, and businessmen.” They have been able to achieve these by generating and maintaining a communal civic spirit in diaspora. The communal spirit is the life-blood of the entrepreneurial ability of the Igbos, and manifests itself in the apprenticeship network founded to achieve economic progress. Again, this communal spirit is a necessity when viewed against the background of Nigeria’s sociopolitical structure.

In pursuing economic advancement, in order to achieve political supremacy, the Igbos in diaspora:
Formed mutual benefit association, credit societies, and “improvement” organisation
which had ties with rural homelands. An Igbo Union was formed in Lagos in 1934 and
later expanded to become the Igbo Federal Union (subsequently the Igbo State Union)
in 1944, to include all local Igbo associations throughout the country. Frequency, the
“improvement” or “progressive” unions, as they were called, functioned as organs of
local self government, providing ad hoc courts to settle disputes, supplying members
with welfare benefits or employment opportunities, levying taxes, and generating a
communal civic spirit. Neither of the other two major ethnic groups used this potent weapon in their economic
and political undertakings until much later – when political rivalry spurred the
educated elites in the different regions to seek allegiance from their people. This
headstart had made it possible for the Igbo to send their children to school through
communal association, unlike among the Yoruba and Hausa who relied on individual
achievements. By 1952, there were 115 Igbo students as opposed to 118 Yoruba
students at the University College, Ibadan. By 1959, there were more pupils and
teachers in the Eastern region than elsewhere. Even in the military, the Igbo occupied
the highest echelon. Of the 431 senior posts in the Nigerian Railway
Corporation in 1964, the Igbo are alleged to have occupied 270; 73 of the 104 senior
posts in the Nigerian Ports Authority; and three-quarters of Nigeria’s foreign service;
and they were heads of the universities at Ibadan and Lagos.
At the economic level, the Igbo, through their communal association, had the
highest numbers of 68,220 individuals in credit associations, as compared to 5,776
for the west and 2,407 for the north. The credit association s among the Igbo had
become associated with the apprentice system. Peculiar to the enterprises identified
by Tom Forrest in Anambra State, Aba, and Imo State is the apprentice-system,
even in the 1990s. This system involves “the process of migration to new locations
by former apprentices, who would in turn train and settle their own apprentices , ”
(Forrest: 146).

Igbos dominate the informal sector which is not well reported, yet is the most critical sector in Nigeria. That is why also poverty is less in Igboland. Igbos outside Igboland may not repatriate investments as much, but they repatriate cash to their relatives. I know of an old woman who nets in 150K every month from two of her children living outside Igboland

deols:

I dont play d tribal card. NEVER. But I must say this

People claiming the people in Ibadan are poor are so so wrong. How do u measure that.I was looking for that map earlier nd I think it is a true picture of things.

The locals are mostly into buying and selling. Bodija d food market, Gbagi for clothes, oje for fruits, sasa for tomatoes nd vegetables. Now talk of Alesinloye, Dugbe( ds is where most Ibos are ) for your already made clothes and so on. People come from far and near to shop there. But, u wont c dem as rich if your definition of rich are tall rising buildings.

They just are okay wv the kind of housing they av and is d reason I said above dat most dont want to give their houses up. All u need do is visit them nd see what they offer u or attend their different ceremonies to c how well off they are nd how much they can satisfy their guests.

The poor people in Ibadan as far as am concerned are not the pepper sellers, nor the buka madams but the so called educated waiting for white collar jobs.

Alesinloye, Gbagi (old and new) Bodija, Ojoo, Dugbe, Gate, etc markets have significant Igbo traders there. True or false, if you claim you know Ibadan very well.

Eko Ile:

I don't even know where to start with this meaningless and contradictory post. Are you saying ibo people in the SW only buy and sell from and to ibo people in the SW?

Why not just stay in ibo land and buy and sell from ibo people in ibo land? Why troop in millions to the SW just to buy and sell from yourselves? Doesn't it make more sense to sit in ibo land and accomplish the same goal with ease?

Like I said, use your brain sometimes,

You are merely ranting. This is an endless argument. okay. Can you show me one evidence of Igbo gaining from the wealth of Yoruba that Igbos were not involved in? Most companies Igbos work in Yorubaland are PLCs in which the public, including Igbos, own shares. You will hardly find Igbos working for Yoruba companies that are very private. In contrast, a lot of Igbos employ many Yorubas in their private businesses. Go to Alaba and Idumota and see. Go to Linkserve, Capital Oil, Coscharis, Emzor phrma etc and see.

Only a small fraction of Igbos travel to Lagos to live these days. They go in and out doing their business. When the ports in the east are completed, that will lesses even further. These days, Igbos are going outside of Nigeria than they go to other parts of Nigeria. It is our nature to be migratory and got nothing to do with poverty. Even before independence, Igbos were already migrating, hence people like Zik, Ojukwu etc were born outside Igboland.

One additional and indeed strong evidence for why SE is less impoverished than the SW is family holding. 50% of the SW are muslims and potentially will have 2, 3, 4 wives, and thus many children, despite how wealthy/poor they are. This increases their population and further impoverishes them. This is one of the main reasons too for poverty in the north. In the SE, you will have to look really hard to find a man with two wives and Igbo families have also reduced the number of kids they bear to the extent that one senator cried out that Igbos should begin to give birth again to more children https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-333388.0.html

Eko Ile:

^^^^^ Your assertions doesn't jive with facts and realities in your towns and villages against the SW.


The easiest way in Nigeria for the average ibo man or woman to make it is to get on the bus and venture into the SW, that's a fact and millions of ibo folks trading and sending their gains back to iboland to support their families remains an obvious reflection of the wealth in the SW and little of it in the SE.

For you to leave the comfort of your own home, family, towns and villages and travel hundreds of miles to make a living in another community, it means the community you are going to has wealth and greater buying power to keep you afloat.

Obviously, your poverty assertion is the other way around, you lack the riches and wealth available in the SW and the fact that the SW is not trooping to the SW for survival and daily sustenance and instead, it's ibo people in the SE trooping to iboland for their daily bread.


Use your brain sometimes, 

Those Igbos trooping to Lagos (according to you) are not coming to take wealth from you because you have not finished supplying to your impoverished populace let alone give to others. They are coming to tap from the wealth created by their Igbo brothers and to do their trade taking the benefit of the huge population (which Igbos eminently comprised off). Got that?

You are joking parading data from Wikipedia which anyone can edit to suit their whims and caprices. If you make me vex now I go log in and edit this your fake data . However, again I reiterate that GDP PPP is not a measure of who actual holds the wealth in a place. Few rich people cornering 98% of the wealth is what obtains in the SW compared to the SE where it is more evenly spread, hence lower level of poverty. Moreover, the GDP data would come from govt sources based on fed allocations to states without consideration for wealth held by private persons. Every year, the SE receives the least allocation (I have no clue why this is so). 60-70% of Igbos are into private enterprises, most of which are hardly organized (those okoro and sons, Obi and Bros, etc type business) into real companies with boards an shareholdings. Despite their family nature, these guys hold significant wealth with their export and import and general business, including transportation, artisanal stuff and general trading. I believe the money held by these private people are not taken into account in the GDP because no private person tells the govt how much they are worth in Nigeria due to tax issues, especially when they are not as organized as PLCs (with many share holders and boards) and can afford to do many things unnoticed. Thus, if you go by GDP PPP even some northern states will be wealthier than many southern states (as is evident from your wikipedia list). But what do we see on the ground north, versus south in terms of poverty and those living it? Please tell me.

It is not for nothing that all available records (including the one from UNDP also here on NL that we had discussed in the past) indicates the SE is less affected by poverty than the SW and facts on the ground attest to that. We can continue the back and forth on cyberspace but the facts remain what they are on ground. I have travelled the L and B of southern Nigeria and I know what I see. What has kept Igbos going is simply their enterprising nature and not magic. There was also a thread here showing that greater part of the money sent home by Nigerians abroad go to the East. Such monies also contribute significantly to cushioning poverty. More Igbos live outside Nigeria than other groups and due to our family systems, sending money home is a given.

That said, Igboland’s GDP PPP (which does not indicate poverty levels) will be increased when more-organized Igbo-owned companies in Lagos and elsewhere invest more at home - Capital Oil, Linkserve, Zinox computers, Emzor pharmaceuticals to mention a few, are such companies - and/or when the SE gets an additional state to balance the equation of fed allocation or when we get 100% resource allocation so that Abia, Imo and Anambra will enjoy the full benefits of their oil/gas status.

Beaf:

We've beaten poverty by state and region to death on NL enough times, the general stats are like this by ranking (anyone with the strength can go dig them up).

1. SE (with the exception of Ebonyi)
2. SS (with the exception of Bayelsa)
3. SW (Oyo comes tops) / Middle Belt (exception of Niger and Adamawa)
4. Core-North

The above said; its sad to see that this thread finally degenerated into an ethnic squabble.

Largely true except for Bayelsa. I think the fight for resource control actually improved their lives in the last decade. Most work in oil companies even as cleaners earning salaries that other Nigerians with low education will be very envious of. When I was in Port Harcourt, I know of many ND boys working in three different oil servicing companies. What they do is that they rent 2 of the jobs out to mostly job-hungry Igbo boys and then share the salary at the end of the month (70 % to the fake worker and 30 % to the original employee) while they concentrate on one for themselves.

The bottom line here is that the SE may not have the Dangotes and Adenugas (few first tiers) of Nigeria
But they have so many 2-tier rich people and even so many more 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th tiers, that it dilutes the overall impact of poverty. Most Igbo villages are as developed as small towns in other parts of Nigeria. If you do not have your own house, you are a nobody. It is competition all the way.

In the SE, everyone is busy doing one thing or another while in the North (especially) and SW, you find people practically doing nothing from morning till night just sitting in front of Adedibu's house (when he was alive) waiting for amala and gbegiri. See example here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-144715.0.html .

http://allafrica.com/stories/201011190437.html



From NAPED, rates Anambra # 1
Nigeria: Anambra Poverty Rate Lowest - NAPEP

Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu

19 November 2010

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National Co-ordinator of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Dr. Magnus Kpakol, has rated Anambra state high as the state with the lowest poverty rate among all the states in the country.

Kpakol, who said this in an exclusive interview with Daily Champion in Abuja, noted that the level of private enterprise in Anambra put the state on the top echelon of the ladder of efforts by states to eradicate poverty.

He said though Bayelsa state is thought to have the lowest poverty rate in the country, statistics have shown that Anambra is actually topping the ladder.

"Statistically, we rank Bayelsa state as having the lowest poverty rate in the country. But in its purest sense, Anambra state has the lowest poverty rate in the country and that is because of the level of private enterprise and commitment to private enterprise there,' he said.

On the need for private enterprise to lead the battle to eradicate poverty in the country, Kpakol said the only way poverty can be eradicated in any society is for greater private sector activity that would create more jobs and allow government the freedom to concentrate on infrastructure development.

He said the private sector holds the key to poverty eradication in the country adding that excessive dependence of government will not help the poverty situation.

He said: "We have to understand that the key to fighting poverty in the country is private enterprise. We must promote private enterprise in the country. I think that the government in Nigeria has been too involved in everything. It is too heavy. That should not be.

"Private enterprise is the key to fighting poverty long term. There has been too much centralization. Excessive centralization and excessive government involvement crowd out ingenuity and private enterprise.

"We need to continue to make it possible for people to be engaged in private enterprise. That's the way to fight poverty. If we do that, we will be able to create jobs and free government to provide infrastructure like roads, electricity and becomes more like a referee. That is basically what government should involve in while private enterprise propels the engine for economic growth and redemption," he said.

Kpakol, who would want more wealthy Nigerians to get involved in the effort to alleviate poverty by creating job opportunities, however frowned at a situation where government is made to fund the purchase of tricycles (Keke) as a poverty alleviation measure.

He said government should not have any business buying and distributing tricycles to Nigerians.

"I do not think government should be buying tricycles for people. I don't think it should be that way. I inherited the programme. I think also that it has done well, but again, I believe that time probably has come when it should be completely privatized."Micro finance banks can buy Keke and sell with support from state governments. I understand state governments subsidize other agricultural inputs. They can also do that with Keke. Honestly, this programme should be owned by the private sector. I do not think the federal government should continue to buy tricycles and distribute to people. I don't think so," he noted.

He however differed with those who are critical of the tricycles as a poverty alleviation measure and its costs stating that critics of Keke should also look at the demand side of it and realize how hotly in demand they are among Nigerians.

"Keke has been useful to the people that have benefited from the programme. When some people think we should not have it, they should also look at the demand side. Peoples demand for Keke is high, both for passenger operations and as profit making business. I am aware that there are some Keke that are selling in the private sector for well over N600, 000 and people are buying them. And they are not from NAPEP," he said.

He frowned at allegation of fund mismanagement at NAPEP noting that the fund has to be available before it could be mismanaged.

He said allegations that funds belonging to NAPEP were misapplied and for which the Senate indicted him, were absolute lies, adding that at no time did the Senate indict him as reported in some dailies.

"Before, they accused me of taking money meant for Keke. you hear someone writing in the newspapers that I gave him a dud cheque and that was why he could not produce the Keke in time. First, I want people to know this. The minister never writes cheques. I do not know the colour of our cheque. I have never seen a NAPEP cheque book. I do not know what it looks like.

"When I came here, we had a permanent secretary and he used to sign cheques. I stopped it. I said it was wrong for someone who checks our accounts to also sign cheques. I stopped it. I don't sign cheques. And then someone goes to town to accuse me of issuing him a dud cheque. I cannot even tell my accountants to write a dud cheque. There is no way he can write a dud cheque because he is a professional and has his integrity to protect.
Relevant Links

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"So, I even imagine why people even say certain things. I will not even go to the extent of saying such a thing, accusing a minister of giving me a dud cheque for fear of exposing much stupidity. There are things you say and people will see you as stupid. There is no way a government official can issue a dud cheque to its contractors. It beats my imagination how anyone thinks I could issue anybody a dud cheque. I can't do such a thing.

"The same person also accused me of owning a facility which costs N470 million. In some places he said it costs N450 million. So, I don't even know which is correct. However, it is simple to prove. Just show a CAC document showing me or listing anyone related to me, who can be pointed at as my proxy, as a director of the company, as a proof that I own the company," he said.

^^^

It depends pretty much on the reporters and how far they want to go to present all data tha I am sure are available. Most end with the list of first 10 (leasta afceted by poverty) or so. Here is something you can chew on while waiting for a complete data. In one Bayelsa came first, but in the one from NAPEP (the fed agency charged with poverty alleviation in Nigeria), Anambra came first and the head of NAPEP actually corrected the notion of Bayelsa coming before Anambra and proclaimed Anambra number one

Give and take it is

Anambra/Bayelsa
Bayelsa/Anambra
Abia
In the SE, Anambra and Abia residents (indigenes and nonindigenes alike) are easily the most hardworking and less dependent on govt for their individual existence.

=============================================================================
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.

Google with the title to try and find the link. It was from 2008 and I save this on my system back then.

Obiagu1:

I don't gloat over people's predicament. I say what I feel.

What you said was very silly, it's like someone saying Alj_harem is Seun. How does it sound?

How can a primary school pupil (Alj Harem) be Seun (intelligent and smart)? Na garri.