President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has launched Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey to measure the level of penury among Nigerians.

Mr Buhari, despite a floundering economy and fiscal crisis amid worsening insecurity, has vowed to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

The World Bank noted, however, indicated that more Nigerians are falling into the poverty hole than are being lifted out of it.

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development inaugurated the MPI on Tuesday. Sadiya Umar Farouq, in a statement by her media aide Nneka Anibeze, said the MPI survey was inaugurated virtually.

”With the MPI, Nigeria has joined many countries that have moved towards improving the efficiency of their decision-making processes through the evidence generated by MPI,” the minister stated. “The consensus around the use of the MPI emerges from different approaches and global agreements, including the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs), which has been replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to cover the multiple aspects of deprivation at the core of poverty and their inter-linkages.”

She noted that by inaugurating the survey, the federal government joined other “strong voices” to highlight the importance of multi-stakeholder engagements on poverty eradication, zero hunger, quality education, climate action, and inclusion.

Ms Farouq noted that Mr Buhari’s regime had successfully lifted more than 10 million people out of extreme poverty through several initiatives, including the National Social Investment Programme.

“This aspiration takes into cognisance the country’s current estimated population of about 200 million people, as well as the need for better evidence for programming,” the minister further explained. “The ministry, therefore, stands ready to collaborate with different government agencies, donor organisations, and private investors to shape policies and drive real impact in the use of MPI data.”

She noted that this would foster government accountability to citizens through improved multi-sectoral interventions targeted at the root of deprivations.

Ms Farouq stated that the ministry would collaborate closely with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to conduct regular multidimensional poverty measurements alongside monetary measures at both national and sub-national levels.

This was ”to ascertain the true poverty status of Nigeria and use the findings to shape policy and programming,” she stated.

(NAN)