FG dismisses global report on Nigeria’s poverty level, gives reasons

macfranc007 June 28, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Nnenna Ibeh

- FG has dismissed the Brookings Institution's report on the poverty indices in Nigeria

- Okechukwu Enelamah, the minister of industry, trade and investments said that the indices used for the report may have been complied when Nigeria was in recession

- According to Enelemah, Nigeria should not kill itself over the report that poverty was increasing

The federal government has dismissed the global report on the poverty level of Nigeria.

The minister of industry, trade and investments, Okechukwu Enelamah, said that the indices used for the report may have been complied when Nigeria was in recession.

Vanguard reports that Enelemah urged Nigerians not to be overly worried about the report.

According to him, the present administration’s urgent infrastructure programmes and enabling environment for businesses will make poverty in the country disappear.

The minister also advised that the country should not kill itself over the report that poverty was increasing.

Enelemah said: “I think first, we need to understand when we get these reports, there are reports that are lagging in indicators which means, people are reporting on history."

"There are reports that are leading indicators which means that they are forward looking and of course, there reports that capture generally what you do which is current.

They are actually dealing with what is current. So, when you get reports from Brooking institutes or all sorts of people, you need to look at the context. Somebody may have written a report when we were in recession.

Remember that if you are in a recession, what it means is that even though, your population is growing, people don’t stop procreating, your growth fact, which means that in theory depending on how they run those numbers, you will be going the other way.

There is absolutely no question that there an urgency to create employment in Nigeria," Enelemah said.

The minister added that such reports has be a product of collective responsibility of all involved.

He said: “There is no magic to it. But you have to do it first, you have to put in the infrastructure, you have to implement the economic programme which is what will create the opportunities, they don’t drop from the sky."

So, I think we should roll up our sleeves as a people and do the work because, if we don’t do it, our people continue to bear children obviously, they would get poorer. “So, I don’t think we should kill ourselves that poverty is something just happen.

I think it comes out of the urgent need we have as a country which is why we are focusing as a government to make sure that we create the enabling environment, the infrastructure and the things that are required to create opportunities for our people and I believe that will happen in the process of time," the minister noted.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that a report by the Brookings Institution, at the end of May 2018, said Nigeria has overtaken India as trhe poorest country in the world.

The report said Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million.

Also, the reported said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon take over the number 2 position.

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