UNDP, FAO, World Bank Lists 10 States in Nigeria On the Throes of Hunger, Poverty and Malnutrition
Three international organizations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank have jointly released a breakdown of Nigerian states that suffer endemic hunger malnutrition and poverty.
The Nigerian states, all in the Northern region of the country, fall under three categorization; those struggling with high rate of hunger, the others suffering from acute poverty as well as those with high malnutrition rates.
According the findings, also corroborated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the
Nigerian National Nutrition Survey (NNNS), shows of the 36 states, Sokoto tops on poverty grading with 87.3%, followed by Kebbi with 86.3% and Zamfara coming 3rd with 85.2%).
Jigawa is 4th with 84.4% poverty rate, Katsina 5th with 83.4%, while Yobe and Bauchi in North East are 6th with 82.2% and 7th with 81.7% respectively.
Also in the North East are Gombe 81.1% poverty rate, Adamawa 79.7%, and Borno rated at 78.6% is also found to suffer endemic poverty.
Of the rop 10 with high hunger rates, Borno comes tops with (71.5%) followed by its next door neighbor Yobe with 69.1% while Zamfara and Sokoto in the North West are third and fourth with 67.8% and 66.3% respectively.
Others are Kebbi 65.9%, Jigawa 65.5%, Katsina at 7th with aggregate 64.8% and Bauchi in the 8th position with 64.2%. Adamawa is at 9th position with 63.4%, and at the bottom is Gombe in the 10th position with 62.9%.
In the category of states with severe malnutrition rate, Kebbi tops the list with 43.1%, its immediate neighbors, Sokoto with 42.1% and Zamfara at 41.4% come 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Others at 4th and 5th are Jigawa 40.6% and Katsina at 39.8%. Following closely are Yobe 39.4%, Bauchi (38.5%), Gombe 37.9%, Adamawa 37.3% and Borno at the bottom of the ladder with 36.9% malnutrition rate.
Some of the striking features that link most of these states though in different regions of the country are that they all faced or are currently facing one form of insecurity or the other.
Primarily located either in the North-East or North-West regions they are known to have suffered or are currently under the spell of one form of insecurity that include Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and kidnappings for ransom. Most of which come with massive loss of lives and internal displacement.
Other challenges the citizens face also include the vagaries of climate change and drought that hampers agricultural engagements.
These, besides social deprevations in limited access to education, healthcare, poor infrastructure, economic opportunities as well as corruption and governance issues.