Sokoto as poorest State, NBS denies report.

In a surprise

reversal of its earlier publication, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has denied the report that it rated Sokoto State as the poorest state in Nigeria in the 2012 National Poverty Index. The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, stated this in a response letter signed on his behalf by Mrs. Yvonne Odu-Thomas, and addressed to the chambers of Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), the lawyer to the Sokoto State Government. In the letter entitled: ‘RE: Bogus, Fictitious, Baseless and Inciting Publication on Sokoto State as the Poorest State in Nigeria’, the Bureau dissociated itself from the report credited to it. “First to be noted is that, the Bureau conducts its National Poverty Index every five to six years. The last survey conducted was in the year 2009/10, whilst the previous one was conducted in the year 2003/04. It can be said therefore, based on this explanation given by the Bureau that the publications on poverty for 2012, so mentioned are out of context and false. “It is important to mention here that the Bureau uses and will continue to use global best practice in conducting all of its Surveys and that no such information as alleged by your client is on the Bureau’s website”, Mrs. Odu-Thomas stated. In another letter to the Special Adviser, Sokoto State Poverty Reduction Agency, the NBS said: “Its next assessment is scheduled for 2014/15. There has been no new survey or analysis on poverty by NBS since 2009/10, therefore all reports claiming NBS released poverty results for 2012 are false. “Accordingly, any statistics recorded without the authority of the NBS, as is the case with the one in question, is not to be regarded as official. The NBS surveys which cut across states are done in collaboration with state statistical offices and before any such survey is conducted you would be informed via the Governor’s Forum,” it added.