BY Mary Ugbodaga
Yemi Kale, the statistician general of the federation, says the number of people living in poverty in Lagos is likely to have increased due to the movement restrictions imposed by the federal government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Kale, who is the director-general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said some Lagosians escaped the poverty line because they lived on daily income.
“So now that we are unable to go out on a daily basis to make that income, the implication is that all of a sudden they will fall below that poverty line,” he said on Saturday during a colloquium to mark the 63rd birthday of Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior and former Osun state governor.
“If we should conduct a poverty survey now, the result is that Lagos poverty rates may be much higher because a large proportion of their population live on a day-to-day basis.
The colloquium was themed ‘Government Unusual: Innovative Economic Solutions to Unlock Mass Prosperity’.
Referencing the 2019 national living standards survey and poverty report, Kale said Lagos has the largest number of micro-businesses and the largest number of people that live on a day-to-day basis.
He explained that in 2019, why people in Lagos were above the poverty line is because they were able to generate income on a daily basis.
Outlining solutions for states who are currently battling with poverty, Kale advised governors to address employment, increase formalisation of the informal sector and design appropriate tax systems to extract revenue from economic activities.
According to Kale, Nigerians spent three more times on food than other non-food items.
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