By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that over 133 million Nigerians are multidimensionally poor, constituting 63 percent of persons living within the country.
This was part of the highlights of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) survey launched in Abuja on Thursday by the Federal government.
According to the MPI survey, 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South.
Poverty levels across States vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.
The report further stated that over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensionally poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy, adding that deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.
“In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states. In Nigeria, 40.1% of people are poor according to the 2018/19 national monetary poverty line, and 63% are multidimensionally poor according to the National MPI 2022.
“Multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, where 72% of people are poor, compared to 42% of people in urban areas.
“The National MPI is reported with a linked Child MPI, which provides additional information on Multidimensional Child Poverty in Nigeria”, the report noted.
According to the report, two-thirds (67.5%) of children (0–17) are multidimensionally poor according to the National MPI, and half (51%) of all poor people are children.
The highest deprivations are in the indicator of child engagements – where over half of poor children lack the intellectual stimulation that is pivotal to early childhood development.
It said, “child poverty is prevalent in rural areas, with almost 90% of rural children experiencing poverty. Across the geo-political zones, the child MPI shows higher poverty in the North-East and North-West (where 90% of children are poor) and lower poverty in the South-East and South-West (74% and 65.1% respectively).
“The incidence of Child MPI is above 50% in all States and greater than 95% in Bayelsa, Sokoto, Gombe and Kebbi.
Four million Nigerians – 2.1% of the population – live with a child aged 15–17 who is the first generation in that household to have completed primary school”.
A statement by Sunday Ichedi, Director Communications and Public Relations Department of NBS, said the survey was a collaborative effort between the Bureau, the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The survey, which sampled over 56,000 households across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022, and provides multidimensional poverty estimates at senatorial district level.
