Uwais faults report on Nigeria’s poverty index

Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, yesterday, faulted report by World Poverty Laboratory (WPL) ranking the nation as the world poverty capital, insisting that indicators used to arrive at the index were wrong and outdated.

Uwais, who spoke at the 25th anniversary of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), stressed that the report was not conducted by the World Bank, as widely claimed, saying WPL couldnot arrive at the actual number of poor people in Nigeria through mere area survey of people with access to electricity and vehicular movement.

She said analysis of the country’s poverty index should encompass issues that are more relevant to Nigeria, being a developing county, adding that the indicators of poverty should include consumption, income and malnutrition.

Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolo, said part of the organisation’s vision is to have Africa without poverty, saying to achieve that, ANEEJ was working on the utilisation of $322m recovered Abacha loot being used for the National Social investment programme. He said the aim is to ensure that the poor, who are the greatest victims of corruption, benefit from the use of recovered assets.