A total of 40.1 per cent of Nigerians earn less than N377 daily, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS made this known in its 2019 poverty and inequality report.
According to the report, while four in every ten Nigerian earn less than ₦377 per day, about nine in ten individuals in Sokoto, Taraba and Jigawa states earn that amount.
Following closely behind these states are Ebonyi and Adamawa, where eight in ten earn ₦377 daily; as well as Zamfara, Yobe and Niger, where seven in ten earn that amount.
On the flipside are states with low poverty rates: Lagos (five in 100), Delta (six in 100), Osun (nine in 100), Ogun (nine in 100), and Oyo (10 in 100).
The report shows that 15 of the 17 states are below the national average (i.e. where the majority of residents are poor) are in the northern part of the country. South-eastern states Ebonyi (80 per cent) and Enugu (58 per cent) are the other two poorest states.
Kwara, Kogi and Benue states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), all in the north-central, are the only other northern states below the nation’s poverty line. Borno State was not captured in the survey due to accessibility.
Also, five of the best seven states are in the south-west. Ekiti, the sixth state in the region, ranks 12th with 28 per cent poverty rate. South-south states, Edo and Delta, are the other two in the top seven.
This variation exists, the report showed, due to the size of the households in each region. Households with 2–4 people have a poverty rate of 17.88 per cent. Those with 5–9 people have 40.9 per cent, while those with 10–19 people 67 per cent rate of poverty.
The report further disclosed that poverty was more prevalent in rural areas. The urban poverty rate was put at 18.04 per cent while the rural poverty rate was 52.10 per cent. That’s about three times poorer.
By profession, the report found that the poverty rate is lowest among salary earners and non-farm workers, while poverty is highest among households whose heads are engaged in agricultural jobs only.
Furthermore, the data showed that the more education the head of a family has, the lower the rate of poverty in that household.
Across the board in this regard, households led by women outperform men with a decent margin. In other words, women with higher education tend to liberate their households from poverty quicker than men with the same educational qualification. Analysts believe this alludes to the need to educate the girl child.
The NBS defined being poor as earning a real per capita expenditures below ₦137,430 ($352). This is about ₦11,453 ($29) monthly, or ₦377 ($0.97) daily.
Invariably, any individual who spends less than ₦377 daily on food, shelter, clothing, health, education, electricity and security and other basic life needs is considered poor.
With the poverty line at ₦137,430, and poverty gap index (which measures those who are far below the poverty line and those very close to it) at 12.9, it means Nigeria will need ₦137,430 per its 207 million people to end extreme poverty.
