The Presidency on Wednesday said state governments and local councils, not the federal government, are responsible for the 133 million Nigerians classified as multidimensionally poor.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a post on his social media platforms while corroborating the position of the former Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Agba.

Onanuga shared a video of Agba delivering a lecture and urged Nigerians to watch it for clarity.

“Who should be blamed for the 133 million Nigerians who are multidimensionally poor? The Federal Government? No. The states? Yes. The 774 local councils? Yes,” Onanuga wrote.

He said states and local governments are constitutionally empowered to provide the basic services required to lift people out of multidimensional poverty, not the federal government.

In the video, Agba explained that multidimensional poverty differs from income or financial poverty.

According to him, while about 69.9 million Nigerians are financially poor and live below the two-dollar-a-day threshold, multidimensional poverty affects about 133 million people due to lack of access to basic amenities such as education, healthcare, potable water and sanitation.

He stressed that responsibility for providing these services rests with sub-national governments under Nigeria’s federal structure.

Agba also rejected claims that successive presidents were directly responsible for the rising number of poor Nigerians, insisting that the issue had been misrepresented.

He criticised state governments for concentrating resources in state capitals at the expense of rural communities, arguing that neglect of primary healthcare centres and basic education worsens poverty at the grassroots.

The former minister commended the current administration’s economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy, acknowledging that the policies were painful but necessary. (Daily Trust)