Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko has dismissed the recent National Bureau of Statistics’ rating of the state as the poorest in the country.
According to the NBS, Sokoto has 81.2 per cent poverty rate.
However Wamakko, who spoke with reporters in Abuja on Saturday, said the rating was misinforming.
The governor said the report had contradicted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s rating of the state as second best in Nigeria with a good profile of Internally Generated Revenue.
He said, “For us in Sokoto, the report by the CBN, which has its structures on the ground in the state, is most authentic and believable. The CBN, based on empirical evidence, rated Sokoto as second among states with the best IGR in 2012 and the records of finances in the state supported the rating by the CBN.
“An agency that failed to conduct a proper survey on what we have been doing as government to mop up the rate of unemployment in the state should not attempt to misinform Nigerians and the rest of the world that Sokoto is the poorest state in Nigeria with 81.2 per cent rate. Such a rating is unthinkable, utterly incorrect and misinforming.”
He said he was not discouraged by the NBS rating, saying he would improve on his administration’s achievements in agriculture, industry, education, culture and youth development.
Also, a non-governmental organisation, Good Governance Project Initiative, said the rating was “untenable and illogical”.
The group, in a statement by its President, Innocent Okadigbo, said, “The people of Sokoto State are predominantly farmers. They produce enough food for themselves and other neighbouring states. That, in any case has removed them from poverty circle.
“There are serious government incentives for farming. In both rural and urban areas, social amenities such as electricity, water, roads, shelter and recreational facilities are available. How can one say the state is poor with these facilities on the ground?”
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