POVERTY

 Overview of Poverty

By LT

Poverty is a manifestation from mismanagement of the Nigerian economy. 

In Nigeria 40.1 percent of total population were classified as poor. In other words, on average 4 out of 10 individuals in Nigeria have real per capita expenditures below 137,430 Naira per year. 

This translates to over 82.9 million Nigerians who are considered poor by national standards. It is important to note, that this number excludes the state of Borno.

Poverty is multi-dimensional and no single indicator can capture all the aspects of poverty. We define poverty based on the availability of certain basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, sanitation facilities, pipe-borne water, education, good healthcare and access to information.

Statistically however, we determine poverty based on income and/or consumption, which assigns numbers to living standards and makes it easier to calculate poverty.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) captures poverty rates across Nigeria with three different approaches –

(1) Absolute Poverty Approach;

(2) Relative Poverty Approach; and

(3) Dollar per day.

In presenting Absolute Poverty measurement, the cost of basic needs approach to measuring poverty is used with three key steps:

(a) Food basic minimum needs required to satisfy daily needs. This caloric threshold is set at 3,000 calories per person per day.

(b) Non-food needs and

(c) Aggregation of food and non-food to derive the absolute poverty line. Absolute poverty is preferred internationally because it is easier to compare poverty rates across countries.

Relative Poverty measurement on the other hand is based on household expenditures. Per capita expenditures that are less than two-thirds of the poverty line are considered to be poor, while those above are non-poor. Relative measure has been the NBS’ official poverty measure, but this will change to absolute measure, so we can compare Nigeria’s poverty rates with other countries’.

Finally, Dollar per day sets poverty at US$2 a day or less and extreme poverty at US$1.25. [ 61 ]

Tables below provide some statistic from available data on poverty rates in Nigeria.

Table Pov 1.0 1: National poverty headcount estimates and number of poor Nigerians 2003-04 and 2009-10

	2003-04
	Head Count	Poverty Gap	Severity of Poverty		Contribution to Poverty
	Pα=0	Pα=1	Pα=2	% of  Population	Pα=0	Pα=1	Pα=2	Number of Absolute Poor (Millions)
Per capita
National	64.2	27.4	15	100	100	100	100	80
Rural	73.4	32.7	18.2	56.3	64.4	67.2	68.5	51.5
Urban	52.2	20.5	10.8	43.7	35.6	32.8	31.5	28.5
	2009-10
	Head Count	Poverty Gap	Severity of Poverty		Contribution to Poverty
	Pα=0	Pα=1	Pα=2	% of  Population	Pα=0	Pα=1	Pα=2	Number of Absolute Poor (Millions)
Per capita
National	62.6	26.2	14.2	100	100	100	100	102.2
Rural	69	30.3	16.8	63.8	70.3	73.7	75.4	71.9
Urban	51.2	19.1	9.6	36.2	29.7	26.3	24.6	30.3

NBS [66]

The poverty headcount differs considerably in different states of the Nigerian Federation (Tables 2 and 3 above).

In 2003-2004,

·         Oyo was estimated to have the lowest poverty rate (38%) while Jigawa had the highest (95.3%).

In 2009-2010,

·         Osun State had the lowest poverty rate (37.5%) and Jigawa remained the highest (88.5%).

·         The greatest progress in poverty reduction between the two
surveys was in Lagos State, which reduced from a 69.4% rate in 2003-2004 to 40.3% in 2009-2010.

A total of 18 states had increased their share of poverty within this period.

 

Table Pov 1.0 2: State-level head count per capita poverty measure (%)

States	2003-04	2009-10		States	2003-04	2009-10
Abia	40.9	50.2		Katsina	72.9	77.6
Adamawa	76.6	77.8		Kebbi	90.8	72.5
Akwa Ibom	56.8	51		Kogi	91.8	67.4
Anambra	41.4	53.7		Kwara	87.8	72.1
Bauchi	87.8	84		Lagos	69.4	40.3
Bayelsa	40	44		Nassarawa	66.1	78.4
Benue	64.7	73.6		Niger	64.4	51
Borno	59.8	60.6		Ogun	49.9	57.6
Cross-river	67	60.4		Ondo	62.8	57.7
Delta	70.6	53.8		Osun	44.6	37.5
Ebonyi	63.2	82.9		Oyo	38	50.8
Edo	53.6	64.1		Plateau	68.5	72.4
Ekiti	60.4	55.9		Rivers	56.7	47.2
Enugu	50.2	60.6		Sokoto	75.2	86.1
Gombe	73.1	81.6		Taraba	60.5	68.3
Imo	46.7	39.4		Yobe	88	81.7
Jigawa	95.3	88.5		Zamfara	84	67.5
Kaduna	54.2	64		FCT Abuja	53.3	45.5
Kano	59.4	70.4

     NBS [66]

 

In truth, Poverty breeds large numbers of children which increases poverty further and vicious circle of poverty continues. Thus, the consequence of rapid population growth without economic growth, serves only to lower the standard of living and fuels insecurity.

Lekan Thomas

Is a Business Analyst and Electronic Engineer (with extensive expertise in assisting both public and private organisations  accomplish their goals), writes from Lagos.

 

      Twitter: @LekanThomas_Esq

      Insta: @lekanthomaz

 

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