BY JIDE AYOBOLU<\/p>\n
The Presidency said that returned $311 which was part of the money
\nallegedly stolen by the late former Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha has
\nbeen allocated for infrastructure development in the country. The
\nPresidency also said that part of the returned loot in 2019 was being
\nused for grain grants and free school feeding programs, adding that
\nwithout the returned Abacha funds, the fight against Covid-19 would be
\neven tougher.<\/p>\n
The Presidency specifically said that the recently returned finds have
\nalready been allocated for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure
\ndevelopment like the second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and
\nAbuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways and in the Mambilla Power Project. This
\nwas disclosed in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to
\nthe President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in Abuja. The
\nstatement titled, \u201cThe return of the Abacha stole millions from the
\nUnited States and Jersey\u201d noted that the latest returned the money and
\nthe ones before it was a testament to the growing and deepening
\nrelationship between the government of Nigeria and the government of the
\nUnited States. It read in part,\u201d On Monday, May 4, 2020, some $311
\nmillion US Dollars \u2013 stolen from the citizens of Nigeria during the
\nAbacha regime \u2013 were safely returned to our country from the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
These funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for
\nvital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The second Niger
\nBridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways \u2013 creating
\ntens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which
\ncan then be useful in future projects. \u201cPart of the funds will also be
\ninvested in the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will
\nprovide electricity to some three million homes \u2013 over ten million
\ncitizens \u2013 in our country.\u201d Without argument, these are projects
\nthat can drastically reduce poverty in the polity, generate employment
\nand help in wealth creation.<\/p>\n
The receipt of these stolen monies \u2013 and the hundreds of millions more
\nthat have already been returned from the United Kingdom and Switzerland
\n\u2013 are an opportunity for the development of our nation, made far
\nharder for those decades the country was robbed of these funds.
\n\u201cIndeed, previous monies returned last year from Switzerland \u2013 some
\n$320 million US dollars \u2013 are already being used for the
\ngovernment\u2019s free school feeding scheme, a stipend for millions of
\ndisadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food
\nhardship.\u201d Continuing, the Presidency said, \u201cWithout these funds,
\nthe fight against Covid-19 would be even tougher. \u201cThe latest return
\nis a testament to the growing and deepening relationship between the
\ngovernment of Nigeria and the government of the United States.
\n\u201cWithout cooperation both from the UK Government, the US Executive
\nbranch and US Congress, we would not have achieved the return of these
\nfunds at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Presidency said that for years many countries deemed successive
\nNigerian administrations as too corrupt, too venal and too likely to
\nsquander and re-steal the stolen monies \u2013 so they did not return the
\nfunds. It, however, said,\u201d Today, US, UK and other jurisdictions have
\nfound the partnership with the nation of Nigeria they can finally trust.
\n\u201d The Buhari Administration is committed to \u2013 and is enacting \u2013
\ntotal and zero tolerance to corruption in politics and public
\nadministration. \u201cThe days when the government was seen and used by the
\npolitical class as their personal ATM to empty are over. \u201cThe time of
\nbetter governance and clean hands in the affairs of state is here to
\nstay.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that if the funds are strategically deployed as
\nplanned by the federal government, it would help in no small measure to
\nstem the ugly tide of poverty in the country; poverty is ubiquitous and
\ngovernment has put in place various programme to address the fundamental
\ncause of poverty in the polity. However, the recently returned funds
\nwould play a very big role to stop the sporadic spread of poverty in the
\npolity.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS says
\n82.9 million Nigerians (40.1 percent) of the population are poor. The
\nbureau disclosed this in its 2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria
\nstudy released on Monday. The report indicates that on average, 4 out of
\n10 individuals in Nigeria has real per capital expenditures below
\n137,430 Naira per year.<\/p>\n
This translates to over 82.9 million Nigerians who are considered poor
\nby national standards. The Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS) is
\nthe official survey that is the basis for measuring poverty and living
\nstandards. The study which was conducted by NBS between September of
\n2018 and October of 2019, is the latest round of the NLSS after a
\ndecade. The survey was representative at the state level with a sample
\nsize of 22,110 households, focusing on increasing the understanding of
\nliving conditions of the Nigerian population. It collected data on
\nhousehold and individual demographics (age, gender, marital status,
\namong others), access to education, health and basic services,
\nemployment, assets, and income. The survey is used to measure prevalence
\nof poverty and to estimate a wide range of socio-economic indicators
\nincluding benchmarking of the Sustainable Development Goals. The scope
\naccording to the NBS, include all the 36 states in the country and FCT
\nexcept Borno due to insurgency in the area. Given that NLSS 2018-19 is
\nnot technically comparable to either the NLSS 2003-04 and to 2009-10,
\nthe bureau said it is not possible to compare poverty levels between
\n2003-04, 2009-10 and 2018-19.<\/p>\n
In order to compare poverty rates across time, it stated that the
\nunderlying data should be collected in similar method, adding that the
\nway the data is collected has great effect on the values reported by
\nhouseholds. According to the study, 2019 study was accordingly treated
\nas a base study and any comparisons with previous poverty studies should
\nbe treated with caution. Further look into the survey showed that with
\nNigeria\u2019s 40.09 percent poverty rate, the country still have 12.85
\npercent poverty gap index and 5.63 percent poverty squared gap index. On
\nthe urban and rural scale, the country recorded 18.04 percent poverty
\nrate in the urban areas,\u00a0 4.47 percent gap index and\u00a0 1.68 percent gap
\nsquare index, the in the rural areas the study shows\u00a0 52.10 percent
\npoverty rate,\u00a0 17.42 percent gap index and\u00a0 7.78 percent gap square
\nindex. On the state by state basis, Sokoto and Taraba led the log with
\n87.73 percent and 87.72 percent poverty rate respectively, while Lagos
\nand Delta state led the chat on the less poverty ravaged states with
\n6.50 percent and 6.02 percent.<\/p>\n
Also, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Delta ranked as second
\nleast poor state in the country.
\nThe bureau, in its latest Poverty Index Report, ranked Delta second
\nafter Lagos among the states with low poverty rate, and said that 40.1
\nper cent of Nigeria\u2019s total population was poor. According to it, an
\naverage of four out of 10 individuals in Nigeria have real per capita
\nexpenditures below N137, 430 per year, meaning that monthly income of an
\nindividual in this category is less than N11,500 while income per day is
\nN383.03. The report said \u201cLagos State has 4.50 per cent poverty head
\ncount rate and closely trailed by Delta with 6.02 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report translates to over 82.9 million Nigerians considered as
\npoor by national standard.\u201d In his reaction, Commissioner for
\nInformation in Delta, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said in Asaba that the report
\nwas a reflection of the \u201cProsperity for all Deltans\u2019\u2019 agenda being
\nvigorously pursued by the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa administration. He also
\nstated that due to the enabling investment climate created by the Okowa
\nled government, particularly in oil bearing communities, Delta had been
\none of the highest revenue earners from Federation Accounts Allocation
\nCommittee (FAAC) which also indicated that the state government had been
\nputting into judicious use the monies accrued to the state. Aniagwu
\nthanked the NBS for conducting living standards survey 10 years after
\nthe last one and for using consumption expenditures approach in
\nmeasuring poverty in Nigeria rather than income approach.<\/p>\n
According to him, conceptually, consumption expenditures better reflect
\nthe achievements of a particular level of welfare by a household, while
\nincome represents the opportunity of reaching a certain level of
\nwell-being. \u201cThe National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Monday, May 4,
\n2020, released the long-awaited Nigeria Poverty and Inequality Survey
\nReport 2019. \u201cThe report places Delta State as the second least poor
\n(poverty reduction milestone) State in Nigeria, after Lagos. \u201cThis
\nparticular survey, conducted with support from the World Bank, recorded
\na clear departure from the previous exercises, especially in the area of
\nmethodology where the consumption expenditures approach was adopted.
\n\u201cWith the new national poverty line at N137, 430 or $361 per person
\nper annum, which translates to $0.98 per day and captures about 40 per
\ncent of the total population, it shows considerable improvement over the
\nyears. \u201cIn the last couple of years Delta has remained one of the
\nhighest earners in the country in terms of crude oil revenues due to the
\npeaceful relations between International Oil Companies IOCs and host
\ncommunities. \u201cThe Okowa administration in his first tenure promised
\nDeltans prosperity for all and in his second term he said he would build
\na stronger Delta in terms of the economy, projects and of course,
\npeaceful relations. \u201cThe NBS rating is a pointer to the fact that
\nDelta\u2019s resources have been put to judicious use by the Okowa-led
\ngovernment thereby reducing poverty to a level that we can boldly say
\nthat we are working. \u201cOur desire as a state is to come top in the
\ncountry and also further improve the standard of living of Deltans in
\nline with best global standards,\u201d he stated. The report indicated that
\nSokoto, Taraba, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Yobe and Adamawa lead the
\npoorest states in the country. The survey is used to measure prevalence
\nof poverty and to estimate a wide range of socio-economic indicators,
\nincluding benchmarking of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s recently promise to lift 100 million
\nNigerians out of poverty in 10 years. President Buhari made the solemn
\npromise in his inaugural address for his second term in office read on
\nthe occasion of the maiden June 12 event to mark the return of Nigeria
\nto democracy 20 years ago. He said his administration would henceforth
\nbegin to lay the foundation for accomplishing the poverty redemption
\ngoal by offering leadership with a sense of purpose. Consequently,
\nBuhari pledged that the next four years would be dedicated to improving
\nthe living standards of the people, tackling emerging challenges,
\nresettling the displaced communities and addressing insecurity in all
\nparts of the country. That extreme poverty is prevalent in Nigeria is
\ncommon knowledge. The manifestations are everywhere in the deplorable
\nliving condition of so many citizens. Many citizens can hardly afford a
\nmeal a day. But the government is constantly putting modalities in place
\nto deal decisively with poverty.<\/p>\n
BY JIDE AYOBOLU The Presidency said that returned $311 which was part of the money allegedly stolen by the late former Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha has been allocated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n