THE National Bureau of Statistics, NBS yesterday said that 133 million Nigerians are suffering from multidimensional poverty, with children constituting more than half of poor people in the country.
This means that two (2) out of every three (3) Nigerians are poor and experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations in terms of health, education, living standards, and work and shocks.
The NBS disclosed this in the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index, MPI, Report launched on Thursday in Abuja.
The MPI is the result of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey carried out by NBS and development partners.
A breakdown of the dimensions of poverty used for the MPI includes: Nutrition, Food insecurity, Time to healthcare, School attendance, Years of schooling and School lag.
Others are Water, Water reliability, Sanitation, Housing materials, Cooking fuel, Assets, Unemployment, Underemployment, Security shock.
We are now being joined by AYODELE ADIO, MANAGING EDITOR OF AVALON DAILY
QUESTION:
1. The NBS has just published poverty and inflation numbers and they are quite high, what are the immediate concerns?
2. Do you think the manifestos being presented by the leading candidates will address these challenges?
3. Food insecurity and other infrastructural deficits underline the major indices, what have we failed to look at?
4. With the 2023 budget estimates been defended at the national assembly, is there hope in sight?