FG, states trade blame over poverty

Adebayo Obajemu

This is a season of disclosures,  as top government officials at  both federal and state governments are beginning to open the famed Pandora box of revelation that rankles the populace.

Last week, the federal government and states engaged in blame game over the responsible party for the rising level of poverty in the country. While the federal government heaped the blame of rising  rate of poverty across the country on the misplaced priorities of the state governors, virtually on what can be called misappropriation of funds; the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, pushed back and accused the federal government of abandoning its basic responsibility to the country.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba,  made this resounding disclosure  while briefing State House correspondents shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Agba’s subtle diatribe against the governors’ recklessness with funds as the reason for mass poverty was the   first official response since the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed two weeks ago that 133 million Nigerians, representing 63 per cent of the population are currently living in multi-dimensional poverty.

Agba  hinted that the  focus of the governors on mundane things that add no value to the material conditions of the rural and urban population was a sine qua non for mass poverty; as the governors , he said were more  interested in building flyovers and airports rather than improving lives of citizens in rural areas.

He disclosed that 72 per cent of poverty in Nigeria was located in rural areas, which he said had been abandoned by governors.

“They would rather build skyscrapers in a city where people will see and clap but the skyscrapers do not put food on the table.”

He exonerated the Buhari administration from culpability in the rising numbers of social and economic destitution, noting  that the Federal Government, on its part, has done its best on poverty alleviation.
He rued the fact that in spite of the enormous investment of the federal government to social investment to alleviate poverty there was no reflection of the amount of investment that had been done in the area.

Agba pointed out that while states are in charge of land for agriculture, they do not invest in them for the desired effect on their rural citizens.

He, therefore, advised the state chief executives that rather than concentrate on the building of skyscrapers, flyovers and bridges among other white elephant projects in the city centres, they should focus on initiatives that can pull the majority of the people out of poverty.

On what the government was doing to redress  the visible suffering Nigerians were going through, the Minister said: “When you say government, we should be able to specify which government we are talking about. Is it the Federal government, state government or local government? Because we all have different responsibilities.

“It is for this reason that we last year started some work on the multi-dimensional poverty index, for which we recently released the report.

“In the past, we’ve always looked at monetary poverty, but poverty has different pieces, different intensity and different causes. And it is for this reason, I went around the 109 senatorial districts in Nigeria, to carry out those surveys and to be able to say specifically, where this hardship is.

“The result clearly shows that 72 per cent of poverty is in rural areas. It also showed clearly, that Sokoto State is leading in poverty with 91 per cent. But the surprising thing is Bayelsa is the second in terms of poverty rating in the country.

“So, you see the issue is not about the availability of money. But it has to do with the application of money.

“At the Federal level, the government is putting out so much money into National Social Investment Programmes, but not seeing so much reflection in terms of alleviating poverty.

“But if the Federal Government puts the entire income that it earns into all of this without some form of complementarity from state governments in playing their part, it will seem as if we are throwing money in the pond because the governors basically are only functioning in their state capitals.

“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,” he explained.

However, the Governors’ Forum, said the Federal Government is to blame for the rising level of poverty among Nigerians.

The NGF stated this, in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Public Affairs, AbdulRazaque Bello-Barkindo.

It said the FG has abandoned its duty of addressing the security challenges crippling economic activities in the country.

The NGF also alleged that the Federal
It said the FG has abandoned its duty of addressing the security challenges crippling economic activities in the country.

The NGF also alleged that the Federal Government’s inaction had allowed “bandits, insurgents, and kidnappers to turn the country into a killing field”.

The NGF accusations come on the heels of the claim by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, that the 36 governors were responsible for the rising poverty index in the country.

But, the forum argued that the governors had made tremendous progress in their respective states through relevant projects.

The NGF stated, “It is important to put on record the progress made by state governors in the administration of their states, which have witnessed tremendous progress in recent times. Governors have undertaken projects where they, in conjunction with their people, deem them fit for purpose.

“This dereliction of duty from the center is the main reason why people have been unable to engage in regular agrarian activity and commerce. Today, rural areas are insecure, markets are unsafe, travel surety is improbable and life for the common people generally is harsh and brutish.

“The opinion, therefore, of one minister, based on a survey of 56,000 households in a country of 200 million people can never diminish the good work that 36 pro-poor-minded governors are doing for this country.”