•The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed the level of poverty in Nigeria in its latest poverty report

• According to the NBS, about 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty, with the highest number concentrated in the North

• The NBS also revealed the poorest and least poor states in Nigeria and said rural dwellers are most affected by poverty

The National Bureau of Statistics has stated that about 133 million Nigerians are now poor.

The NBS, in its National Multidimensional Poverty Index report on Thursday, November 17, 2022, said that about 63 per cent of Nigerians were poor due to a lack of access to health, education, living standards, employment and security.

The Index offers different levels of poverty assessment, identifying deprivations across health, education, living standards, work and shocks.

CEO of NBS and Statistician-General of the Federation, Semiu Adeniran, said this was the first time the NBS would carry out a multidimensional poverty survey in Nigeria.

According to Adeniran, the survey was carried out from 2021 to 2022, and it is the largest survey with a sample size of 56,610 people in 109 senatorial districts.

The current number of 133 poor Nigerians by NBS far exceeds World Bank’s project for Nigeria in 2022.

Poorest and least poor states in Nigeria

The World Bank had said poverty reduction stayed the same under President Muhammadu Buhari and projected that 95.1 million Nigerians would become poor in 2022.

According to the NBS report, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Gomber, Jigawa and Plateau states are the top five poorest in Nigeria in 2022.

The seat of the caliphate, Sokoto leads the poorest states in Nigeria with 90.5 per cent, followed by Bayelsa with 88.5 per cent, Gombe with 86.2 states, Jigawa with 84.3 per cent and Plateau state with 84 per cent.

The least poor states in Nigeria are

Ondo – 27 per cent

Lagos – 29.4 per cent

Abia – 29.8 per cent

Edo -31 per cent and

Anambra – 32.1 per cent.

The report said that 65 per cent of Poor Nigerians, about 86 million, were in the North, and 35 per cent, about 47 million, poor people lived in the South.

The report reads:

“Multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, where 72 per cent of people are poor, compared to 42 per cent of people in urban areas. Approximately 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population live in rural areas….”

The report also covered poverty among children under the age of five, according to Adeniran.

The Punch report said President Buhari had said in 2019 that his government would lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty between 2020 and 2022, meaning 10 million Nigerians would get out of poverty yearly.