Worrying stats: 133 Nigerians are multidimensionally poo
Of the 210 persons in Nigeria, a staggering 133 of them are poor – albeit multi-dimensionally.
Meaning they are poor, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in areas such as Health, Education, Living Standards, Work and Shocks, food security, water reliability, underemployment, security shocks and school lag. It also includes Child linked MPI such as eight vital aspects of early childhood development in physical and cognitive domains, including severe undernutrition, immunisation, intellectually stimulating activities, and preschool.
The figure is 63 percent of the country’s population.
In its first ever 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey, launched in Abuja on Thursday, the Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, maintained that the MPI Survey is one of the largest surveys to be undertaken by NBS, with a sample size of 56,610 households across 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory.
The survey plan began in 2020 at the peak of COVID-19 and was executed in 2021/2022.
Further highlights of the MPI Survey revealed that the Nation’s national MPI stood at 0.257, implying that poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations of the indices measured.
It also showed that 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.
According the MPI Survey report, “Over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensionally poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy. High 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 multi-dimensionally 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.
“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.
“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.”
According to the country’s chief statistician, “For the avoidance of doubt, NBS computes and uses both the monetary and multidimensional measures of poverty. The approach for each of them is different, so the results should not be seen as contradictory but rather complementary each other.
“While the monetary measurement of poverty which usually records a lower rate, makes use of consumption expenditure as a means of determining the level of poverty, the MPI approach uses deprivations in basic amenities as a means of determining the level of poverty. Both measures, however, are needed to present a more holistic picture of poverty, and better inform policies intended to address the needs and deprivations faced by poor populations.
“This report, therefore, provides an updated estimate on the population of people who are multidimensionally poor in addition to being in monetary poverty. The fact that the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most States implies that the Nigeria MPI (2022) is making visible part of the population who are not identified as poor by the national monetary measure.
“This provides a clearer picture of poverty in Nigeria and contributes to informing a more comprehensive policy response.”
