Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index: How Ekiti Is Punching Above Its Weight

Nigeria surpasses the World Bank projection of 100 million poor people and hit 133 million according to the recent Multi-dimensional Poverty Index  (MPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In the report, multinational poverty index is defined as a measure of poverty that reflects the share of possible deprivations that poor people experience. Its value ranges from zero, which indicates no poverty, to one, which denotes universal poverty and deprivation.

Ekiti State was ranked very high at number 5 with an MPI of 0.125 accounting for the population of 1.31 million people and approximately 36% of its total population. Although no manner of poverty is admirable in any sense, but when a comparative analysis of Ekiti State is juxtaposed with other sub-nationals with higher GDP and internally generated revenue (IGR), it is very clear that Ekiti State has punched above its weight!

It is important to understand the concept of multidimensional poverty index which captures weighted score ranging from education to health, living standards, work, and skills content all of which impact social welfare and life expectancy of the households.  The multi- dimensional poverty situation is further exacerbated by the CoviD 19 pandemic which ravaged the country particularly in 2020 and 2021.

That Ekiti State ranks high in the NBS study with respect to the MPI is no small feat. This has happened despite the various limitations and burdens on the State’s financial resources. Ekiti State is ranked as 35th and 32nd in terms of FAAC and IGR respectively. In spite of these limitations, how was Ekiti State able to minimize the level of poverty to the barest point among its peers?

The State continues to improve standards in healthcare service delivery in its health sector while working to improve the welfare of its health professionals. The State brought in some cost-saving programmes and reforms to improve access and affordability: rehabilitation and equipping of existing primary and secondary  healthcare institutions, personnel recruitment and incentivisation to enhance healthcare delivery across communities, free healthcare delivery for pregnant women and children, and  health insurance programs across its rural communities. This has  improved health indicators significantly for Ekitikete, improving patronage of health facilities and reducing out-of-pocket expenditure. These and other improvements like highest level of immunization coverage in the South West and lower levels of maternal and child mortality are evidenced in the 2021 Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey(MICS) by UNICEF and NBS. All of these have also contributed to the high life expectancy for which Ekiti is known  nationally.

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During COVID-19, the State Government invested heavily in healthcare provision and delivery – for both 2020 and 2021,  it committed heavily to  healthcare delivery with combined budgetary expenditure spending of more than N8 billion (N3.54billion accounting for 89% in 2020 and N5.9billion accounting for 100% in 2021 of expenditure as percentage of health budget) to refurbish, rebuild and renovate the primary and secondary health facilities whilst also equipping them with state of the art facilities. Its unwavering support for vulnerable groups and indigent members of society continues with various  social welfare reforms. This is further reinforced by the social investment program of the APC led Federal Government.

In the area of education which has also impacted the MPI outcomes, the Government built on its rich cultural heritage of being the fountain of knowledge by re-introducing reforms which reduced barriers to entry for poor households (affordability of quality education), and these necessitated expansion of school facilities – leading to the construction of new school infrastructure (8 new model schools), and rehabilitation of virtually all primary and secondary schools across the State.  This alone led to a jump in educational enrolment: primary schools had improvement from 106,271 students in 2018 to 145,323 in 2022; secondary schools had improvement from 84,146 students in 2018 to 113,464 students in 2022; whilst technical collages had improvement from 700 students in 2018 to 2,505 students in 2022. Ekiti State along with Imo State have the lowest out-of-school children population in the country(MICS 2021). Analysis of student performance from WASSCE results also showed significant improvements: from 56.80% in 2018 to 70.81% in 2021 of five credits including Mathematica and English Language.

With its comparative advantage in the production of food and cash crops such as rice, cassava, and yam, the EKSG is continuing in its plans to connect the dots by improving agricultural competitiveness (expand access to land, inputs and credits) and industrialize agriculture by attracting more large-scale farmers which will further impact jobs and reduce poverty rates.

Ekiti State is working assiduously to improve its sanitation and hygiene ranking amongst its peers and investing heavily in its utilities infrastructure provision and delivery. The Third National Urban Water Project was a watershed in Ekiti, with an investment of $50million resulting in the complete refurbishment of 4 out of its 5 dams and the reticulation and repair of pipes to households. The project, on completion, will result in delivery of potable water to most of the communities and households.

This is why the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) result for Ekiti State is not totally surprising. The Government of Ekiti State, led by the Governor, believes firmly in delivering transformative programs through data driven, analytical insights. This is why our programs achieve higher returns. The State’s data and value-for-money approach drives its programs, projects, and public policy initiatives. I know this well because I served under Governor Fayemi as the Senior Special Assistant on Research and Documentation, and now serve under Governor Oyebanji as Special Adviser on Governance, Reforms and Innovation; and the efforts to gather the most accurate data for our programs are more than well documented and constantly improved upon.

Ekiti State, when compared with other States with oil revenues and high IGR, has shown how meticulous planning and data application to government activities can improve  governance and development programs. Perhaps there is a need to under-study the Ekiti State economic-policy and governance delivery framework on how best to utilize limited  resources to achieve optimal and effective service delivery. I am certain this peer review can and will result in some positive outcomes.

 – Fakuade, is Special Adviser, Governance, Reforms and Innovation to Governor Oyebanji of Ekiti State. He writes from Ado Ekiti.