133 Million Nigerians (63%) are living in poverty – Federal Government’s latest report

The federal government has revealed that about 63 percent of persons within Nigeria (133 million,) are living in poverty.

This came off a research carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 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).

Presenting a report during the launch of Nigeria’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey in Abuja on Thursday November 17, it was revealed that the figure was arrived at after a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) with five components of health, living standard, education, security and unemployment was measured. 

56,000 households across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT were sampled in the research conducted between November 2021 and February 2022.

Out of the 133 million Nigerians living in poverty, 86 million people, live in the North, while 35 percent, nearly 47 million live in the South.

Sokoto State had the most poverty level across States, with 91 percent while Ondo has the lowest with 27 percent.

The report added; 

 “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 multidimensionally poor according to the National MPI 2022.”

President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, said the index was adopted because it provides ways poverty could be identified and tackled with policies.