Hope you enjoyed last week’s recap of the main events that defined life in Nigeria in 2022. Here are the last 11 points.
Living Standards
About 4 of every 10 Nigerians are multidimensionally poor and experience deprivation in at least one of the Living standard-related deprivations that the National MPI 2022 captures for each household.
The measures of living standards include: water; sanitation; housing material; cooking fuel; and assets associated with a household, according to Nigeria’s 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report. The report further reveals that:
Source: NBS
Almost 1 in 2 (46.5%) Nigerians who are multidimensionally poor are deprived of access to improved sanitation facilities. Unimproved sanitation facilities include: flush to somewhere else or unknown place (not sewer system, septic tank, or pit (latrine)); pit latrine without slab; bucket; hanging toilet or latrine; and no or other non-improved sanitation facility.
Source: NBS
Also, half of the Nigerian population (50.6%) who are multidimensionally poor use dung, wood, or charcoal as their main cooking fuel.
Source: NBS
Furthermore, deprivations in the Living Standards of Nigerians contribute 33.6% to multidimensional poverty in Nigeria. This is second only to Health deprivations which contributes 34.4%, ahead of the other two dimensions of poverty, namely, Education and Work and shocks, which contribute the remaining 17.9% and 14.1% to people’s poverty in Nigeria.
Multidimensional Poverty
Nigerians received with shock the findings by the National Bureau of Statistics that nearly 133 million people — are multidimensionally poor as of 2022.
This means 63% of the entire population experienced deprivations in more than one of the 4 poverty dimensions, namely, deprivations in health, education, living standards, and work and shocks.
Source: NBS
While 4 out of 10 Nigerians experience monetary deprivation, more than 6 out of 10 are multidimensionally poor.
Besides, 7 out of 10 Nigerians living in the rural areas are multidimensionally poor compared to 4 out of 10 in urban areas.
Source: NBS
The NBS explained that Poverty manifests not just in lack of income, but also in the lack of basic amenities such as access to healthcare, education, water and adequate sanitation, clean cooking fuels.
NNPCL
Formerly referred to as Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), NNPC was transformed from a corporation to a limited liability company, named NNPC Limited, in July 2022.
This transition was enabled by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was passed by the National Assembly, and assented to by the President in August 2021,
However, Dataphyte’s Research arm, in its latest NNPC performance report, spotlighted “several issues of concern, such as high production costs, high credit sales, high indebtedness, low revenues and low gross profits, all linked to the poor financial management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries,”
It noted that these “subsisting problems resurface as the government-run corporation transits to a private liability company”
In a subsequent report, Dataphyte reported that the NNPCL still struggles to make profits. “Despite the privatisation of the company, “Poor Production, Unprofitable Partnerships, and Unfavourable Expenditures are a Noose on the Neck of NNPCLs Profits, the company’s half-year accounts showed.
Obidient Movement
The Obidient movement, a diverse group of supporters of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, finally launched a third force political arrangement in 2022 to disrupt Nigeria’s popular two-party system.
In its appraisal, the Financial times noted that, “Only a few months ago, the contest for Nigeria’s presidency in February’s elections was billed as a straightforward battle between two wealthy septuagenarian veterans who had been on the political scene for more than three decades.
But former state governor Peter Obi, a comparatively youthful 61, has shaken up the race to replace outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari. With his promises of frugality and accountability, he has attracted the support of a youthful, “Obidient” movement tired of a profligate elite.”
Obinna Kanu, a 25-year-old first-time voter, said: “The best-case scenario is that Obi wins but my personal goal is to shift the needle in Nigeria”, according to a report by the Financial Times
“The current powers that be have to be aware that the youth can bring a third relevant party, … Even if Obi doesn’t win but gains 10-15 per cent of the vote, we can show the older generation that has sucked this country dry that this is just the beginning and the two-party system is coming to its end”, the Financial Times reported.
Party Primaries
The current Presidential, governorship and legislative candidates emerged from costly party primaries in 2022, beginning with the outrageous sums for the purchase of party nomination forms.
“Already, research has established that high costs of electioneering is one factor that significantly limits the political participation of women and youth in Nigeria — considering that these two groups are also the most unemployed or underemployed population of the country, according to Dataphyte findings.
Yet, “Rather than a downward review of campaign spending limits for elective positions and ensuring a stricter compliance from political parties, earlier this year, the National Assembly (NASS), in the new Electoral Act, increased the campaign spending limits for the presidential positions from N1 billion to N5 billion. It also increased the limit for governorship campaigns to N1 billion, from the initial N200 million”, Dataphyte reported.
Dataphyte observed that, “While the campaign spending limit for Member of Parliament (MP) candidates in the United Kingdom is set at £8,700 (approximately $11,334) per candidate, Nigerians vying for seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives are allowed to spend up to $239,645 (N100 million) and $167,751 (N70 million), respectively.
“Of course, one could argue on the difference in political systems between the two countries; nevertheless, such a huge difference is probably indefensible for a country with over 90 million poor people.”
Regrettably, Nigeria’s 90 million poor people alone (of the country’s 217 million population) exceed the entire 67.5 million population of the United Kingdom.
Redesigned Naira Note.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has redesigned the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
At the launch of the new notes in November 2022, President Buhari noted that ‘‘the new Naira banknotes have been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.’’
The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, added that the move would “control inflation, make policies more effective, ensure financial inclusion and fight corruption.
He cited other benefits of the redesigned notes, which include enhanced security, greater durability, attractiveness and promotion of rich cultural heritage.
According to the CBN, the former N200, N500, and N1000 notes seizes to be legal tender by January 31, 2022.