In the last week, Nigerians have realised there are levels to this thing called poverty. Until the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) “National Multidimensional Poverty Index” report, which said six out of ten persons are multidimensionally poor, most Nigerians had never heard the term “Multidimensional Poverty”.
The report, which is the first poverty index survey published by the NBS since 2010, said that 65 per cent of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35 per cent (about 47 million) live in the South.
The report also noted that multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, with 72 per cent of the people living in poverty and 42 per cent in urban areas.
Multidimensional Poverty is on its way to becoming mainstream lingo; another term that describes the depths of poverty in Nigeria,
But what makes poverty multidimensional?
According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, multidimensional poverty encompasses deprivations experienced by poor people — such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, and living in environmentally hazardous areas, among others,
Simply put, these 63 per cent of Nigerians are poor because they lack access to health and education and suffer poor living standards, alongside unemployment and other economic shocks. If you cannot afford more than one of the essential survival needs as stated in the report, such as good health, basic education, good living standards and gainful employment, it means you are multidimensionally poor.
But what does multidimensional poverty really mean beyond another economic buzz phrase? How can you know if you’re part of the 63% of Nigerians in this category?
Can you Afford Healthcare?
Nasir Sambo, the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), also said the scheme presently covers less than 10 per cent of Nigerians – most of whom are federal employees and their dependents, even after almost 20 years of its operation in Nigeria.
However, another report says only 3% of Nigerians have health insurance; the rest of the country’s teeming population, unable to afford insurance premiums, pay out-of-pocket for expensive healthcare services. Out-of-pocket payments can make households and individuals incur catastrophic health expenses, with evidence that such costs can exacerbate the poverty level of such individuals or households.
In the formal sector, less than 5% of Nigerians are covered by the NHIS, and only 3% of people in the informal sector are covered by voluntary private health insurance. Uninsured patients are at the mercy of a non-performing health system.
Let’s examine one of the most common illnesses Nigerians have, Malaria. A popular joke among Nigerians is that “everybody in Nigeria has at least 1malaria”. Uncomplicated malaria treatment costs an average of US $1.96 per episode, and the line of poverty is set at $1.90 per person per day. This means that 1 round of Malaria treatment costs more than Nigeria’s estimated 95.1 million poor have in a day.
Coartem, Armatem, Lonart and other popular brands cost between N1200 and N2500, that’s far higher than the $1.90 poverty line, which at official rates is just about N842.19.
If Nigeria’s poor can somehow afford malaria treatments, something else will suffer.
Can you Afford Education?
Currently, Nigeria is one of three countries with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world,
According to the World Bank, Nigeria, in 2020, had more than 11 million out-of-school children between the ages of 6 and 15. This figure represents 1 in 12 of all out-of-school children globally and 22% of all children in the age group in Nigeria.
To increase equitable access for out-of-school children, improve literacy and strengthen accountability at the basic education level, the federal government committed a N220 billion credit facility from the World Bank to the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BEDSA) in 17 states of the federation.
Also, UBEC introduced the Open School Programme (OSP) in 2020. Piloted in six states, it was designed to reduce the country’s out-of-school children burden.
Nigeria’s School Feeding Programme, started in 2016, was designed to improve child nutrition and increase school enrollment.
But most of these interventions have yet to work out.
Despite these programmes and strategies deployed by the federal government to cut down the number of out-of-school children, the number has continued to increase.
Nigeria has free basic education, but its budgetary spending on education is notoriously low, leading to poor basic education outcomes. In fact, the World Bank posits that Nigeria is experiencing learning poverty, with up to 70% of 10-year-olds who cannot perform basic numeracy tasks.
As a result of poor financing, government schools are dilapidated and lack fundamental education infrastructures like classrooms, so parents often have to pay for furniture, school materials, etc. Private school education is not an option for Nigeria’s poor.
Clearly, “free” education in Nigeria costs more than tuition and free lunch, and this may be why the many interventions are yet to yield results.
Given a choice between treating a child’s malaria and buying one dozen 60 leaves notebooks at N2,900 for 1 child, most of us will choose health.
But health or education is not the greatest opportunity cost yet for multidimensional poverty. Food is.
Can you Afford Three Square Meals?
Most Nigerians have given up on the idea of three square meals; for some, it’s fit fam, but for most people, especially the 95.1 million poor, it’s simply not sustainable.
For a country where most household goods have dollar inputs, either in the form of energy (imported diesel/petrol) or raw material, the monthly minimum wage of N30,000 is insufficient to sustain feeding alone. According to a report by Picodi, an international e-commerce firm, Nigeria ranks worst among 64 countries where minimum wage can ensure a minimum standard of living.
As the prices of commodities, especially food, make rapid climbs amid stagnant or dwindling income, more and more people are “fasting” out of hunger.
Latest food inflation figures are at a dizzying height of 23.72%; the naira’s debilitating weakness against the dollar, insecurity, and the recent floods that have wiped out most farming harvest only point to a possible further rise in food inflation.
Common food commodities like rice, beans, garri have all risen astronomically in the last year, and even the alternative food options that people resort to when other food items are out of reach are now out of reach as well.
When considering the subject of multidimensional poverty, beyond the buzz, consider that what it means in practical terms is the choice between expensive food and good nutrition and all that goes into having that, high healthcare costs, and factors like maternal and child mortality, high incidence of malaria deaths etc., education and the implications for literacy as well as in all the other indicators that make up the fifteen used in determining Nigeria’s current figures.
Nigeria’s 133 million people living in Multidimensional Poverty means 6 in 10 people have to constantly do an opportunity cost at varying scales that is far removed from the reality of the rest of the population, not in this bracket.