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News - North Central - FCT Updated: November 30, 2022

FG Blames Governors Over Poverty Rating, Says Building Flyovers Needless

By Abdulrazak Muhammad
November 30, 2022
PMB
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The Federal Government has blamed state governors over the level of poverty in the country.

The FG said building flyovers and airports was needless while relegating the rural areas to the background.

This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba on Wednesday shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

The Minister lamented that 72% of the poverty in Nigeria was found in the rural areas because the governors had abandoned them.

He stated that while the federal government has done its part in alleviating poverty in the country, the state governors were yet to pave way for people to feel the impact of the support and investment in the area. 

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He noted that state governors have focused on building their state capitals rather than investing directly on the people in the rural areas.

He also noted that states which were in charge of land for agriculture had not invested in them for the desired effect on their rural citizens.

He further called on the governors to explore means that would pull the majority people out of poverty. 

"To say in the past, we’ve always looked at monetary poverty. 

"But poverty like we know has different pieces, different intensity and different causes. 

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"And it is for this reason, I went around the 109 senatorial districts in Nigeria, to carry out those survey and to be able to say specifically, where this hardship is.

“The result clearly show that 72% of poverty is in the rural areas. 

"It also showed clearly, that Sokoto state is leading in poverty with 91%. 

"But the surprising thing is Bayelsa being the second in terms of poverty rating in the country. 

"So, you see the issue is not about availability of money. 

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"But it has to do with the application of money."

“At the federal level, government is putting out so much money but not seeing so much reflection, in terms of money that has been put in alleviating poverty, which is one of the reasons the government also put in place the national poverty reduction with growth strategy.

“But if the federal government puts the entire income that it earns into all of this without some form of complementarity from the State governments in playing their part. 

"It will seem as if we are throwing money in the pond. 

"Because the governors basically are only functioning in their state capitals.

“And democracy that we preach about is delivering the greatest goods to the greatest number of people. 

"And from our demographic, it shows that the greatest number of our people live in rural areas, but the governors are not working in the rural areas," he added. 

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