AMID the rising wave of inflation gripping the country, no fewer than 15 Northern states spent an approximate sum of N45bn on different poverty alleviation programmes in the first six months of 2024, an investigation by this newspaper revealed.
On Friday, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate surged to 33.88 per cent in October 2024, up from 32.70 per cent in September.
In January, the country’s inflation rate was 29.90 per cent, indicating that it had increased by 13 per cent within the first 10 months of the year.
The effect is felt in most of the northern states, a region that reportedly has the highest poverty rate in the country.
In April 2024, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, decried the high level of poverty in Northern Nigeria, especially the North West.
According to him, the region had the highest poverty rate in the country, with a national average of 40.1 per cent as of 2019.
Delivering a paper, titled “Navigating the Maze: Addressing Multi-Dimensional Insecurity Challenges in Northern Nigeria,” at the combined convocation lecture of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Ribadu identified Sokoto as the worst-hit in the region.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index Survey launched by the NBS for the 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2022 also confirmed the high rate of poverty in Northern Nigeria.
The survey indicated that 65 per cent (86 million people) of the 63 per cent (133 million people) poor individuals in Nigeria reside in the North.
It stated that 91 per cent of people in Sokoto State are poor while listing the proportion of multidimensionally poor for other northern states as Jigawa (83.3), Zamfara (82.70), Yobe (81.70), Bauchi (81.30), Kebbi (79.10), Katsina (77.50), Gombe (77.40), Kano (68.80), Taraba (65.10), Borno (64.0), Niger (61.60), and Adamawa (59.90).
An investigation by this newspaper showed that about 15 of the 19 states in the North spent the sum of N45,323,220,202 on several programmes to reduce poverty in the region between January and June 2024.
The states are Zamfara, Yobe, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Gombe, Borno, Bauchi, and Adamawa.
The figures were derived from an analysis of the budget implementation reports of the states, obtained from the Open Nigerian States, a BudgIT-backed website serving as a repository for government budget data.
The performance report is prepared quarterly and issued within four weeks of each quarter’s end.
During the same period, the states received over N325bn in grants and aid from various financial institutions across the globe.
But despite getting financial aid worth N5.3bn, there was no record that Kano State spent any amount on poverty alleviation programmes in the first half of the year, though about 68.8 per cent of the population of the state lived below the national poverty line.
Zamfara State, with an 82 per cent poor population, spent only N1.3m on poverty alleviation programmes, despite getting N52.8bn in grants alone during the period under review.
For Yobe State, another high poverty rate, N16bn was on poverty alleviation programmes, though it received N53bn in grants.
For other northern states, Plateau spent N3.6bn, Niger N280m, Nasarawa N94m, Kwara N583m, Kogi N14bn, Kebbi N54m, Katsina N16m, Kaduna N13m, Jigawa N6bn, Gombe spent N1.8bn, Borno N3.2bn, Bauchi N850m, and Adamawa N839m to tackle poverty in their states during the period under review.