His Excellency Governor Aminu Tamuwal of Sokoto State has reacted and replied that the state is not the poorest in Nigeria as reported by a reporter in the National Bureau of Statistics.
His reply came on Monday after he got an analysis report titled: “Sokoto Development Plan” 2020-2025 at the Government House.
According to April 2020 Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS) report had released by the NBS covering the whole year 2019, 9 of 10 poorest states in Nigeria are from the northern region with Sokoto, Taraba and Jigawa being the poorest.
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Tambuwal said, “I do not intend to Join Issues with the NBS, but i appeal to them to come clear on their variables and how they do their assessments of poor states in Nigeria; and then how they arrived at Sokoto being the poorest.
“When you look at the programmes 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”
Governor Tambuwal said his administration had spent N4bn to improve the business of over 200 small scale traders across the 23 local government areas of Sokoto State.
“We believe that we are not poor and in due course it will unfold. We shall monitor the NBS and see what it will come up with in its next report, whether they will reflect the actual status of Sokoto State in the Country in terms of rating of the poorest states- Governor Aminu