FG Initiates National Multidimensional Poverty Index Survey

Olawale Ajimotokan

The federal government has announced the kickoff of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey.

The MPI Survey was virtually launched yesterday by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq.

She said Nigeria has now joined many countries that have moved towards improving the efficiency of their decision-making processes through the evidence generated by MPI.

She noted that the consensus around the use of the MPI emerged from different approaches and global agreements, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have been replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to cover the multiple aspects of deprivation at the core of poverty and their inter-linkages.

The minister listed the multi-stakeholder evidence generated by the MPI to include poverty eradication, zero hunger, quality education, climate action and inclusion.

“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 Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development 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 to foster government accountability to citizens through improved multi-sectoral interventions targeted at the root of deprivations,” she said.

She added the ministry will 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 to ascertain the true poverty status of Nigeria and use the findings to shape policy and programming.

The ministry will also collaborate with the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, using MPI data to improve budget allocations by sector and state in order to target individuals, communities and areas needing dire attention.

Farouq Umar stated that the ministry intends to partner with private sector actors, using the special purpose vehicle of social investments to create a national and state poverty map/tracker, which will help provide progress towards poverty reduction goals.

The minister thanked the World Bank Group, UNDP, OPHI, UNICEF, the High Commission of Canada, and other bilateral and multi-lateral bodies for their support towards eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.