I do not intend to join issues with the NBS, but I appeal to them to come clear on their variable(s) and how they do their assessments of poor states in Nigeria
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has faulted the current report by the National Bureau of Statistics that the state is one of the poorest in the nation.
Tambuwal made the observation Monday when he received a report titled, "Sokoto Development Plan: 2020-2025 at Government House, Sokoto.
According to the April 2020 Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS) report released by the NBS covering the year 2019, 9 of top 10 poorest states in Nigeria are from the northern region with Sokoto, Taraba and Jigawa being the poorest.
"I do not intend to join issues with the NBS, but I appeal to them to come clear on their variable(s) and how they do their assessments of poor states in Nigeria; and then how they arrived at Sokoto being the poorest," the governor stated.
He added: "We know that something must be fundamentally defective and wrong with their processes and the outcome of those processes.
"When you look at the programs we are implementing in Sokoto State, they are people-friendly. They are promoting and supporting the vulnerable, the poorest of the poor.
"Even what we are doing through Zakkat and Waqf Commission (SOZECOM) alone, I am not aware that there is any state that is doing as much."
He further added that the state government would monitor the NBS and see what it would come up with in its next report, "whether they will reflect the true position of Sokoto state in Nigeria in terms of rating of poor states."
"We believe that we are not (poor) and in due course, it would unfold," the governor said.