Abia, Ebonyi turn NBS’s poverty index report into campaign issue

Recent report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) from its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) survey has become a major campaign issue in two neighbouring South East states of Abia and Ebonyi.

While the report revealed that Abia is among the low poverty-rated states, and among the five best states, Ebonyi, at 56 per cent, is on top the ladder among the poorest states of the federation.

Excited by the independently generated statistics, Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, said the ranking could not have come at a better time, stressing that it is impossible to hide self-evident facts.

Ikpeazu said: “We have been intentional, doing roads that lead to markets, connecting markets through strategic road networks, opening Akwa Ibom to Aba road, rebuilding Ariaria Market. We enhanced our Micro Finance Bank, promoting made-in-Aba products, as well as developing inclusive security strategies to protect our people and their businesses. These painstaking and well thought out programmes, no doubt, have enabled better life.”

Ikpeazu, who spoke through his Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief John Kalu, regretted that propaganda by opposition politicians paint a negative picture of affairs in the state.

The outgoing governor, who is also the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Abia South Senatorial District, said the NBS report has shown that he has fulfilled his 2015 promise of delivering a better life to Abia people.

He assured me that he would continue to do his best to justify the mandate given to him by Abia people.

On his part, the Ebonyi State governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof. Benard Odoh, said the NBS report has vindicated his stance that budget performance does not translate to the socio-economic development of a people.

Odoh, who agreed that the state government has done well in the area of infrastructure development, contended that the gigantic structures that dot communities have no positive economic impact on the citizens.

The APGA guber hopeful, who served as Secretary to the State Government (SSG) under the present administration of Governor David Umahi, said it is due to the unbearable poverty in the state that he plans to create massive employment opportunities for youths when elected governor of the state.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Orji Uchenna Orji, maintained that the Umahi administration has excelled in leaps and bounds, stressing that the governor has laid a strong foundation for the socioeconomic prosperity of future generations in the state.