FG blames State Governors for rising poverty

The Federal Government on Wednesday said state governors were partly responsible for the rising rate of poverty nationwide.

It blamed the state chief executives for priotising the construction of heavy pieces of infrastructure such as bridges and airports in cities rather than improving the lives of the rural poor.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, made this assertion while briefing State House correspondents shortly after this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Agba, who noted that 72 per cent of the nation’s poor reside in rural communities, said the governors had abandoned the critical demography, preferring to spend state resources on the capital cities instead.