Poverty has become an epidemic in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous and largest economy. There are currently 133 million poor people in Nigeria. This high number of poor Nigerians is unacceptable because only three African countries – Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt have more than 100 million inhabitants.
This implies that the number of impoverished Nigerians is enough to be a country, and such a country would have been the second largest nation on the African continent.
The emerging worrying sign is that the United Nations Population Fund just sounded a note of warning that unless the Federal Government of Nigeria addresses the challenges in the education and healthcare sectors, over 250 million Nigerians will be poor in a not too distant future.
The release of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown to sub-national governments in Nigeria what works and should be emulated. There is no doubt, ubiquitous empowerment programmes dot the Nigerian landscape implemented under different nomenclatures. The MPI report has rated these programmes in terms of their efficacy.
Engaging 133 million poor Nigerians should be topmost on the minds of Nigeria’s political office holders and current aspirants. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop
While admitting that each state has its uniqueness, the poorly rated states on the MPI should learn from Ondo and Lagos states the best approaches they adopted to reduce poverty scourge in their domains.
Both Ondo and Lagos represent two different classes of societies when categorised by income, which means Lagos State by all standards is richer than Ondo State. Yet, Ondo State recorded the least multidimensional poverty in Nigeria. It then means that rich states such as those in the Niger Delta or average income states elsewhere have one or two things to learn from these states.
Ondo State looked inward by exploiting resources within its domain to achieve the laudable results above. The Sunshine state used oil palm plantation projects to reduce poverty. Nigerian businesses, especially those into the production of pasta, utilise huge amounts of crude palm oil yearly. This is why demand for crude palm oil and their by-products is increasing.
Between July and September 2022, Nigeria imported N19.97 billion worth of crude palm oil from Malaysia, according to Nigeria’s trade data as published by the NBS. Ondo State also deployed the Red Gold initiatives. Through this scheme, the Ondo State government allocated 70,000 hectares of land to investors in the oil palm business, and this is in line with the determination of the state to develop the entire oil palm value chain.
Ondo State used the creation of the Amotekun Corps to achieve two things: job creation, and the provision of security. The need to augment the federal security apparatuses became apparent when the collaboration of Amotekun, police, army, DSS and other local vigilante groups resulted in the arrest of the criminals that committed heinous crimes by murdering worshipers at a church in Owo, Ondo State.
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Socio-economic data on Lagos State show while everyone wants to be in the state. And despite having the largest population in the country, it emerged as having the second least multidimensional poor people in the country.
To attain this feat, Lagos State focused on initiatives that mattered to the lives of the people. It used education, health, social welfare, child protection, skills development, graduate employment, vocation training, women and youth empowerment as well as community support.
The achievements of Lagos State’s mother and child centres have surpassed expectations. The centre is a 100-bed facility that is situated in strategic locations in the state to reduce travel time to general hospitals. Each mother and child centre has clinics for mothers, babies and children. There are provisions for caesarean section whenever there is a complicated delivery just as there are neonatal units for premature babies.
Added to the above is Ilera Eko, a healthcare scheme that has 623,000 registered residents who access care in both public and private healthcare centres. Neonatal deaths in the state have reduced from 50 deaths per 1000 live births to 15 deaths per 1000 live births.
Both Ondo and Lagos states have promised to reduce to the barest minimum the number of multidimensional poor people in their states. Programmes such as infrastructure development will feature prominently in Lagos State while Ondo State will continue to tap emerging opportunities in the state’s agriculture and solid minerals sub sectors.
Lagos State is set to tap into the emerging opportunities from Lekki sea and airports, the fourth mainland bridge, Imota Rice Mill, and the Ojota-link bridge. The construction of the fourth mainland bridge will inject about $2.5 billion into the Lagos State economy. This will positively impact the cement, paints and chemicals, iron rods, granite, sand, and other related sectors. The construction section has the potential to engage so many individuals from skilled to unskilled.
Other states in Nigeria, especially those with very high multidimensional poverty rankings should emulate Ondo and Lagos states in order to reduce the poverty scourge in Nigeria. Engaging 133 million poor Nigerians should be topmost on the minds of Nigeria’s political office holders and current aspirants. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
