President Muhammadu Buhari says about 63 per cent of people in Nigeria are multi-dimensionally poor.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 2022 Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey Report Thursday in Abuja, the president said multidimensional poverty was higher in the rural areas compared to urban areas.
The report was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which noted that incidences of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states where 40.1 per cent of people are poor. This is according to the 2018/19 national monetary poverty line.
The report further noted that 67.5 per cent of children aged between 0 to 17 are poor and 51 per cent of all poor people are children.
The president, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, said: “This multidimensional way of understanding poverty has been helpful in highlighting beyond monetary/income-based poverty measurements, the stark realities of poverty in each state and across the 109 Senatorial districts.
“However, 63 per cent are multi-dimensionally poor according to the 2022 MPI report.
“Furthermore, the Report shows that multidimensional poverty is higher in the rural areas, where 72 per cent of people are poor, compared to 42 per cent of people in urban areas.
Buhari restated his commitment to eradicating extreme poverty in Nigeria evident through the official establishment of the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) in 2016.
President Buhari had promised to lift 100 million people out of poverty within 10 years, in line with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and the Africa Agenda 2063.
The president urged governors, policymakers, academics, private sector, the media, and the public, to engage with the results of the survey and find ways of utilising the findings to support the development in their respective areas.
Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Semiu Adediran, said the MPI was one of the largest surveys to be undertaken by the NBS with a sample size of 56,610 households across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
