Okwe Obi, Abuja
The latest report published by the Inter-Ministerial Expert Technical Committee on poverty alleviation in Nigeria has rated Sokoto, Jigawa and Taraba as the poorest States in the country, with a poverty headcount rate of 87.02, 87.72 and 87.02, respectively.
The report rated Lagos, Delta and Ogun as having the lowest rates, with poverty headcount ratios of 4.50, 6.02 and 9.32, respectively.
The members of the Committee were drawn from the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Environment and Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.
The committee which was chaired by Dr Bassey Etim of the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, was set up to enable the Federal Government look at modalities and avenue to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume, said the government would work ‘assiduously towards the implementation of the report for the benefits of all Nigerians.’
According to him, ‘the need to tackle and eradicate poverty has become even more accentuated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its devastating effect on the world economy generally as well the difficulties encountered by the recent deregulation of the downstream sector which is aimed at putting the economy on sound footing.
‘It is to be noted that this meeting is unique in the sense that it seeks to tackle the issue of poverty eradication from a wealth creation
approach using the platform of Cooperative Societies in Nigeria.’