Breaking News Nigeria, Latest Nigerian News
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Politics
    • Science
    • World
    NewsShow More
    zenith bank
    Zenith Bank to pay N15.70bn dividend to shareholders
    September 12, 2023
    unity bank
    Unity Bank’s gross earnings rise to N27.5bn in H1
    September 10, 2023
    ban on Nigerian passports by seychelles
    A ban on Nigerian passports by Seychelles won’t hurt Nigerians alone
    July 9, 2023
    Naira devaluation
    EXPLAINED: How the Naira devaluation will affect you
    June 18, 2023
    fidelity
    Fidelity: A bank on a mission
    June 18, 2023
  • Politics
    • Politics Featured Section
    • Politics Story for You
    PoliticsShow More
    ban on Nigerian passports by seychelles
    A ban on Nigerian passports by Seychelles won’t hurt Nigerians alone
    July 9, 2023
    democracy day
    Democracy Day: Our democracy deeply troubled – Peter Obi
    June 12, 2023
    Tinubu's decision to sack emefiele
    Why Tinubu’s decision to sack Emefiele was spot on
    June 11, 2023
    Tinubu's decision to sack emefiele
    Tinubu’s abrupt announcement of fuel subsidy removal was unpresidential, insensitive
    June 5, 2023
    grv
    PHOTOS: LP Gov. candidate, GRV, dad visit Oba of Lagos
    March 16, 2023
  • Business
    • Business Editor’s Pick
    • Business Featured Section
    • Business Story for You
  • SMARTKOBO
  • Entertainment
    • SportsNews
    EntertainmentShow More
    diego moreira
    Diego Moreira: 4 things you need to know about Portugal international who just completed move to Chelsea
    July 1, 2023
    Bolanle Ninalowo
    EXTRACTION 2: Between Bolanle Ninalowo & Netflix, who lied? 
    June 20, 2023
    extraction 2
    Extraction 2 better than Extraction 1 but with few spoilers
    June 18, 2023
    Bolanle Ninalowo
    Extraction 2: Nollywood bad boy Bolanle Ninalowo features in Netflix action thriller
    June 12, 2023
    burna boy's performance at the champions league final
    What Burna Boy’s performance at the Champions League final means for African music
    June 11, 2023
  • #2023Elections
Reading: FG blames state governors for high poverty rate in Nigeria
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
iphone 15
iPhone 15: 5 things you should know
September 12, 2023
zenith bank
Zenith Bank to pay N15.70bn dividend to shareholders
September 12, 2023
unity bank
Unity Bank’s gross earnings rise to N27.5bn in H1
September 10, 2023
military intervention in niger
Military intervention in Niger by ECOWAS is such a terribly bad idea
August 5, 2023
ban on Nigerian passports by seychelles
A ban on Nigerian passports by Seychelles won’t hurt Nigerians alone
July 9, 2023
Aa
Aa
Breaking News Nigeria, Latest Nigerian News
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Politics
    • Science
    • World
  • Politics
    • Politics Featured Section
    • Politics Story for You
  • Business
    • Business Editor’s Pick
    • Business Featured Section
    • Business Story for You
  • SMARTKOBO
  • Entertainment
    • SportsNews
  • #2023Elections
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • SMARTKOBO
  • Entertainment
  • #2023Elections
© 2022 Nigeria Today News. All Rights Reserved.
Breaking News Nigeria, Latest Nigerian News > Breaking News > FG blames state governors for high poverty rate in Nigeria
Breaking News

FG blames state governors for high poverty rate in Nigeria

Lawrence Solomon
Lawrence Solomon December 1, 2022
Updated 2022/12/01 at 9:03 AM
Share
governors-blame-poverty
Poor Children in Nigeria
SHARE

FG says state governors focus on flyovers instead of poverty alleviation

The Federal Government of Nigeria has blamed the state governments for the spate of abject poverty in Nigeria especially in the rural areas.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, said this while briefing newsmen in after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja yesterday. The meeting which was chaired by the president, Muhammad Buhari.

The minister accused the state governors engaging in white elephant projects such as bridges and airports in their state capitals rather than engaging in projects that will improve the lives of the poor living in the rural communities.

Agba noted lamented that 72% of Nigeria’s poor live in neglected rural communities where there are no social amenities while the state governors use the scarce resources to build unnecessary expensive projects which do not add value to the lives of the people.

- Advertisement -

ALSO READ:

REVEALED: How Buhari’s government plans to take 7 million Nigerians out of poverty

BREAKING! We lifted 10.5M Nigerians out of poverty in 2 years – Buhari [VIDEO]

He said that the “The governors are basically functioning in their state capitals. And democracy that we preach about is delivering the greatest goods to the greatest number of people. And from our demography, it shows that the greatest number of our people live in rural areas, but the governors are not working in the rural areas.

- Advertisement -

“Right now 70 per cent of our people live in rural areas. They produce 90 per cent of what we eat. And unfortunately 60 per cent of what they produce is lost due to post harvest loss and it does not get to the market.

“I think from the Federal Government’s side we are doing our best. But we need to say that rather than governors continuing to compete to take loans to build airports that are not necessary, where they have other airports so close to them, or governors now competing to build flyovers all over the place, we appeal that they should concentrate on building rural roads so that the farmer can at least get their products to the market.”

In a recent survey by the Nigerian Bauru of Statistics, which listed the poorest states in Nigeria, Sokoto ranked the poorest state in Nigeria followed by Bayelsa.

The minister lamented that a state like Bayelsa which is oil rich with high federal allocation should have no reason to be poor if the governors did their jobs.

- Advertisement -

 “The result clearly shows that 72 per cent of poverty is in the rural areas. It also showed clearly that Sokoto State is leading in poverty with 91 per cent.

“But the surprising thing is Bayelsa being the second in terms of poverty rating in the country. So, you see the issue is not about availability of money. But it has to do with the application of money.

“In the course of working on the national development plan, we looked at previous plans and asked why they didn’t do as much as expected. We also looked at the issues of the National Social Investment Programme.

“At the federal level, the government is putting out so much money but not seeing so much reflection in terms of money that has been put into alleviating poverty, which is one of the reasons the government also put in place the national poverty reduction with growth strategy.

- Advertisement -

“But if the federal government puts the entire income that it earns into all of this without some form of complementarity from the state governments in playing their part, it will seem as if we are throwing money in the pond.”

Furthermore, Agba blamed the current food inflation in the country on poor rural-urban roads. The minister noted that farm produce were cheap at the rural areas where they are produced but expensive in the urban areas because there is no good roads for the farmers to bring their produce to the cities.

“UNIDO report shows us in terms of employment, the MSMEs employ 70 per cent of our people. So, you can imagine how much progress we will make when there are roads and power in these rural areas.

“In terms of agriculture, you find out that the federal government doesn’t have land that they would plant. The government has pushed for the Anchor Borrowers programme and that is going on very well but the state control lands states. They are the ones to provide land for agriculture. They are not investing in that. They would rather build skyscrapers in a city where people will see and clap but the skyscrapers do not put food on the table.

- Advertisement -

“When we’re talking about food prices, like I mentioned right now is driving inflation, prices of food at the farm gates are low. But when you now take it to the urban areas, you find out that the prices are high due to supply chain disruptions or lack of infrastructure to take them there,” he said.

TAGGED: poverty alleviation
Lawrence Solomon December 1, 2022
Share this Article
Facebook TwitterEmail Print
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Might Also Like

iphone 15
Breaking NewsGadget

iPhone 15: 5 things you should know

September 12, 2023
zenith bank
Breaking NewsBusiness

Zenith Bank to pay N15.70bn dividend to shareholders

September 12, 2023
unity bank
Breaking NewsBusiness

Unity Bank’s gross earnings rise to N27.5bn in H1

September 10, 2023
military intervention in niger
Breaking News

Military intervention in Niger by ECOWAS is such a terribly bad idea

August 5, 2023
nigeria today news logo
Nigeria Today News logo

Subscribe to our newsletter

Please wait...
Want to be notified when our article is published? Enter your email address and name below to be the first to know.

Most Recent News

zenith bank
Zenith Bank to pay N15.70bn dividend to shareholders
Breaking News Business September 12, 2023
unity bank
Unity Bank’s gross earnings rise to N27.5bn in H1
Breaking News Business September 10, 2023
ban on Nigerian passports by seychelles
A ban on Nigerian passports by Seychelles won’t hurt Nigerians alone
Breaking News Business Politics July 9, 2023
Naira devaluation
EXPLAINED: How the Naira devaluation will affect you
Breaking News Business June 18, 2023
fidelity
Fidelity: A bank on a mission
Breaking News Business Business Editor's Pick June 18, 2023

Most Viewed Posts

  • World cup qualifiers: See the full list of 30 players invited to represent Nigeria (2,732)
  • WAWU! Flavour marries first baby mama Sandra Okagbue (1,603)
  • 10 smart businesses you can start in Nigeria today with zero capital and make money immediately (Part 1) (1,421)
  • How angry youths attacked Buhari’s helicopter in Kano – [VIDEO] (1,411)
  • BREAKING! Flutterwave shuts down Barter virtual dollar card services, to terminate all cards by July 17 (1,273)

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Pinterest Pin
Instagram Follow

© 2023 Nigeria Today News. All Rights Reserved.

  • About
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Terms
  • Contact
Please wait...

Subscribe to our Nigeria Today News

Want to be notified when our article is published? Enter your email address below to be the first to know.
SUBSCRIBE

Removed from reading list

Undo
AdBlock Detected
Our site is an advertising supported site. Please whitelist to support our site.
Okay, I'll Whitelist
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?