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3 Poverty Dominated States in Nigeria
This article takes a look at some of the poverty dominated states in Nigeria, in other words, the poorest states in Nigeria with access to huge funding this states has, the level of poverty however, has not changed.
In a country that is filled with an abundance of resources, you would think the people will live as kings, however, that is not the case with Nigeria, Well, especially with the poverty-dominated states in Nigeria, it is a different story entirely.
Meanwhile, aside from insurgency and some other factors, most of the problems associated with these states can be aligned to poor management of the state resources which has its roots deep in corruption. Additionally, this list takes into consideration metrics such as quality of life, poverty rate, or the human development index as our metrics for ranking this states.
Likewise, healthcare, food insecurity, education, nutrition, and access to cooking fuel is one of the basic amenities that this states lacks, which contributed to their ranking on this list. Furthermore, the National Bureau of Statistics, which states that 63% of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor puts the number at about 134 million people live in poverty with no access to significant proportion of amenities.
Some of this amenities includes, access to health care, clean energy and sanitization among other things. While the above number is high for a country which claim to be the economic giant of the whole Africa with a population of about about 220 million people the higher percentage of the poverty index however lies in the north with about 65-66% of multidimensionally poor people living there.
Poverty is not only in the manifest of monetary income but also in the absence of all the above mentioned amenities which includes, lack of education as well as access to clean water and adequate sanitization.
This article, however, will look at the top 3 poverty dominated states in Nigeria with, 65% of the poor people in Nigeria (86 million) in the North while 35% (47 million) in southern part.
1. Sokoto State
Sokoto state has a population of about 7 million people is poorest state in Nigeria. It also has the highest population of poor people that is not synchronized with the total population of the state. There are about 5.81 million poor people in state that can be considered as living in poverty, which means majority of the population has no access to clean water, adequate sanitization, clean cooking fuel, education, adequate health care, food among others.
According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Over 8 out of 10 (84.8%) persons in Sokoto State are multidimensionally poor, 4 out of 5 (78.5%) persons in Sokoto State that are multidimensionally poor live in a house made up of natural or rudimentary materials.
2. Bayelsa State
Bayelsa State has a population of about 3 million people. The state which is located in the Niger Delta south south region of the country is the smallest state by population. Meanwhile, with the state being one of the less populated states in Nigeria with a large deposit of Natural gas, it remains one of the poverty dominated state in Nigeria, with multidimensional poverty index of 0.401 and which makes about 2.61 million poor people living in the state.
In 2021, Bayelsa had a GDP of $29.97 billion placing it number in the country, but that has not stopped the state from being one of the poorest states in Nigeria. Meanwhile, over 4 out of 5 (81.1%) persons in Bayelsa State are affected by severe food insecurity, 8 out of 10 (81.0%) persons in Bayelsa State are deprived of improved sanitation facilities while, 3 out of 4 (74.2%) persons are deprived of clean cooking fuel, among others.
3. Jigawa State
Jigawa state has a population of about 9 million people living in the northeastern region state which borders Kano state, Katsina states among others, it also serves as Nigerian border to most of the west African countries. The state ranks as one of the poorest states in Nigeria with an MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index) of 0.385 which makes about 5.76 million people out of about 9 million. About 8 out of 10 (76.3%) of people in Jigawa State are multidimensionally poor and live in a house made up of natural or rudimentary materials such as wood planks, palm/bamboo with no roof on their shelter.
Additionally, over 6 in 10 (67.0%) people in Jigawa State are multidimensionally poor and and deprived of clean cooking fuel, which put about 6 in 9 (65.9%) people with access to nutritious foods. Though the state had a GDP of $13.97 billion in 2021 with the state serving as border to neighboring African countries which serve as commerce for the state, it has however, not changed their status as one of the poverty dominated states in Nigeria.