A National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, survey has shown that 63 percent of Nigerians are poor as at 2022.
The survey was contained in a report titled, “The National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey results for 2022.”
The MPI report, launched today in Abuja, also showed that 67.5 percent of children within the ages of 0-17 years are poor.
Speaking at the launch, the President, Mohammed Buhari noted that the multidimensional way of understanding poverty has been helpful in highlighting beyond monetary income based poverty measurements.
Represented by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President, Buhari said:”This multidimensional way of understanding poverty has been helpful in highlighting beyond monetary income based poverty measurements.
‘The stark reality of poverty in each state’s and across the 909 senatorial district. “According to the report, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states where 40.1 percent are poor according to the 2018/2019 National Poverty Line.
“Furthermore, this report shows that multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas where 72 percent are poor compared to 42 percent of people in the urban area.
“So that we see that poverty at the phase of rural origin, nature and also as we soon see subsequently the phase of women.
Globally, people that are very vulnerable to poverty are very often women and children.
“It is therefore commendable to see that this report also include child poverty numbers. Children are a strategic population of concern as nearly all “Nigerians are children under the age of 18. Two third that is 67.5 percent of children within the ages of 0-17 are poor according to the National MPI and 51 percent of all poor people are children. So poverty at the phase of rural, phase of women and of the phase of children.”
Buhari reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to eradicating poverty which was in line with the Sustainable Development Goal, SDG, 1.
He said, “I reaffirm our commitment to the first goal of SDG which is eradicating poverty in all its dimensions.
“This government recognizes the importance of the data and the need to deploy it in sharing your story to a broad spectrum of stakeholders both domestically and internationally.
“It is my hope that with the report being launched today, every stakeholder will rise to the challenge. Providing needed political leadership, strategic vision and creative hard work to move the needle towards eradicating extreme poverty in Nigeria.”