By–Ajibola Osungbohun
Claim: An X user claims that Kogi State is the poorest State in Nigeria.
Verdict: False.
Full Text:
An X user with the username @BolanleCole, on 16th November, 2024, posted on his handle that the Kogi State is the poorest state in Nigeria, adding the state does not have a stand among the best performing states in the country.
In his tweet quoted as follows, “ The poorest state in Nigeria today aside Kogi State is Kogi State.
In the league of thriving states in Nigeria, Kogi State should not be included.”
As of November 19, 2024, when we found the claim, the post has garnered over 1,992 views, 38 likes, 10 reposts and 6 comments, with several users reacting for and against. Examples are as follows: “I won’t take that bro, where did you put Ogun State?” “I won’t take that bro, “where did you put Ogun State?” Is Benue, Jigawa State a joke to you?” to mention a few.
Kogi state has been in the news for several months as a result of the EFCC’s allegation of money laundering offences against its former Governor Yahaya Bello, as well as his nephew Ali Bello, Dauda Sulaiman, and Abdulsalam Hudu, and the contentious nature of the claim prompted this verification.
Verification:
In checking the authenticity of the claim, our researcher made a quick Google keyword search, and discovered that the data on the Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index was last released in 2022.
According to the report by Nariametrics, citing the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Sokoto, Bayelsa, and Jigawa States led the list of states in Nigeria with the highest multidimensional poverty index, having an aggregate of 14.18 million impoverished people.
Finally, in corroborating our above findings, we found that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on its website on November 17th, 2022, launched the results of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey.
The survey shows the highlights of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index, revealing that the poverty levels across states vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.
Conclusion
Our findings from the available data last released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the poorest state in Nigeria is Sokoto State, as at 2022. Therefore, the claim by the X user that Kogi is the poorest state in Nigeria is false.
