The Nigerian government has officially launched the National Poverty Panel Situation Room (PDSR) as 63% of the people living in the country (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor.
The situation room was inaugurated by Clem Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning, on Friday in Abuja.
The FG had previously stated that the Nigerian Multidimensional Poverty Index (2022) is designed to be used as a measurement and policy tool.
The minister noted that the need for a poverty and welfare information data hub is to host different features in which policy discussions can be hosted, citing that the hub would be used as a tool for a proper understanding of the poverty situation in Nigeria.
- “The purpose of the lab is for people to use it and understand how to deal with the problems we have. We believe that there must be transparency and accountability; we must involve people in whatever we are doing so that the trust gap is reduced”.
He noted that the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report revealed that poverty was prevalent in rural areas at 72 percent, compared to urban areas at 42 percent, and stated that he has been talking about the need to pay attention to our rural areas. The money invested in poverty reduction does not seem to be showing that it is working.
- “This is because, at the subnational level, governors pay attention to state capitals, as we can see from the results of the MPI report. I see a link between the rate of population growth and the lack of infrastructure in rural areas.
- ”What happens is that our poor farmers, who produce 90 percent of the food we eat, live in rural areas and do not earn a profit from agriculture.
- “If each state is doing its part, you will find that food prices will go down, it will be better for our people, and we will be eliminating the problems of poverty” added.
The federation’s general statistician, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said the center will diagnose and dissect any problems related to poverty.
NBS officials added features to the lab, including a dedicated poverty dashboard and website, which would be interactive, and in-house experts who would provide explanations on poverty indicators.
For the record: Nairametry previously reported that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that 63% of people living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor.
This is according to a press release issued by the NBS on Thursday about highlights of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey result.
According to the report, more than half of Nigeria’s population is multidimensionally poor, with higher multidimensional poverty in rural areas, where 72% of people are poor, compared to 42% of people in urban areas. .
In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty in most states. In Nigeria, 40.1% of people were poor based on the 2018/19 national monetary poverty line, and 63% are multidimensionally poor based on the 2022 national MPI.