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at 03:58 0
Despite progress in reducing extreme poverty, nearly half the world’s population lives on less than $5.50 a day, with a rising share of the poor in wealthier economies, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

In a twice-yearly report, the bank took a broader look at poverty to see where countries were lagging, even though the share of those living in extreme poverty defined as earning less than $1.90 a day has continued to come down in recent years.

Under the expanded criteria for poverty, the report found the number of poor worldwide was still “unacceptably high,” while the fruits of economic growth were “shared unevenly across regions and countries.”
Even though the global growth of recent years had been sluggish, the total count of people in poverty declined by more than 68 million people between 2013 and 2015 — “a number roughly equivalent to the population of Thailand or the United Kingdom.”

Despite the improvement, the report said current trends indicated the WorldBank’s goal of reducing extreme poverty to less than three percent of the world’s population by 2030 may be unattainable.

“Particularly distressing findings are that extreme poverty is becoming entrenched in a handful of countries and that the pace of poverty reduction will soon decelerate significantly,” the report said.

At the $5.50-a-day threshold, global poverty fell to 46 percent from 67 percent between 1990 and 2015. The bank reported last month that extreme poverty had fallen to 10 percent in 2015.

With China’s rise, East Asia and the Pacific saw a 60 point drop in the poverty rate to 35 percent, but the region is unlikely to continue to achieve that pace going forward as growth has moderated.

And poverty is becoming entrenched in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 84.5 percent of the population still live on less than $5.50 a day, the report said.

And while two decades ago, 60 percent of the global population lived in low-income countries, by 2015, that had fallen to nine percent.

The World Bank also cautioned that in many of those countries, the poor were not sharing equally in economic growth.

AFP

Source: ChannelsTv
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at 17:15 0
Nigeria’s inflation rate has again risen for the second time in a row.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS)on Tuesday showed a slim margin of 0.05 per cent to 11.28 per cent in September, compared to 11.23 per cent recorded in August.

According to the NBS, the composite food index rose to 13.31 per cent year-on-year in September, driven by an increase in the price of poultry product, vegetables and other important food items.
Similarly, the country’s urban inflation rate increased to 11.70 per cent year-on-year, while the rural inflation rate increased to 10.92 per cent last month.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline index dropped by 0.21 per cent to 0.84 per cent in September, the food sub-index fell by 0.42 per cent points to 1.00 per cent, while the urban index and rural index both fell by 0.14 to 1 per cent and 0.82 per cent each.

This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Potatoes, yams and other tubers, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, cheese and egg, Bread and cereals, and Fish.

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.00 per cent in September 2018, down by 0.42 per cent points from 1.42 per cent recorded in August.

The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending September 2018 over the previous twelve-month average was 15.92 per cent, 0.58 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in August (16.50)

Source: ChannelsTv
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at 22:12 0
The federal government has defended the country’s position with regards to  foreign borrowing which the International Monetary Fund IMF listed the vulnerability to foreign debt as one of the major threats to economic growth amongst African countries, especially in the sub-Saharan group which includes Nigeria.

The government also stressed why reserves are falling, attributing the fall in reserves to the rising interest rates in developed economies.
Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) of the Federation has said that the federal government is making effort to protect the country from such crisis.

The Director in charge of Africa at the IMF, Mr Abebe Selassie, who listed the challenges to growth in Africa said the countries’ debts were rising unsustainably, posing threats to their ability to deploy funds for economic development.

debt
He also said that the consequences of the rising debt were the countries’ resources were being channeled to debt servicing rather investment into growth enablers.

Selassie advised that not only should the debts be moderated but also that revenue generation should improve to address a weak debt servicing ratio to GDP and tax-to-GDP ratio.

But against the backdrop of this situation the Director-General, DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, while addressing journalists on the sidelines of the on-going annual meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions, said the Federal Government is on top of the situation in the borrowing plans.

Source: Vanguàrd
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at 18:46 0

As stakeholders seek speedy passage of social work regulatory bill
By Sola Ogundipe

Worried by the worsening levels of social insecurity for millions of Nigerians and the glaring lack of attention about the relevance and welfare of social workers in the country, stakeholders in the nation’s social sector are urging the National Assembly to facilitate speedy passage of a bill to professionalise social work.

One of the concerns is that the gap between the rich and poor in Nigeria is widening and with an estimated 86.9 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty (according to the Global Poverty Clock), and Nigeria is now tagged the poverty capital of the world.

Good Health Weekly established that the nation’s human capital spending is among the worst in the world, even as indicators by global development institutions project more gloom in the future. Worsening levels of poverty, inequality, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH), life expectancy, and human rights among others are being documented daily.
Two global development indices – the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) index put together by Development Finance International (DFI) and Oxfam, and the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, HCI, attest to this fact.  According to the CRI index, Nigeria’s performance on social spending on health, education and social protection is described as “shamefully low”.  For the second consecutive year Nigeria ranked among the lowest in the CRI index among 157 nations based on a comparative assessment of the level of commitment of national government towards reducing the poverty gap.
In a comparison of the value of social spending in Nigeria with other countries, Nigeria placed bottom last on the index, scoring poorly on labour rights and meager levels of improvement in progressive tax policies.

Further, the prediction by the HCI, which ranked Nigeria 152nd out of the 157 countries, is that the future would be probably as grim or worse. The HCI measures human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, assuming the child attains the age of 5, grows healthily, goes to school, obtains good education and has reasonable adult survival rate.
Calling for speedy passage of the bill in Enugu last week stakeholders gathered at a media dialogue on the Social Welfare Professionalisation bill, argued that its assent is essential to regulate the practice of social work in the country.

Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, Maryam Enyiazu who spoke during the forum put together by UNICEF in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau, CRIB, and the Federal Ministry of Information, said too many people were vulnerable due to poverty, social exclusion, inequality and social injustice, hence a strong social welfare workforce is urgently needed.

In a presentation entitled “Strengthening the Social Welfare Workforce to Better Protect Children and Achieve the SDGs”, Enyiazu explained that the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, cannot be achieved without a strong and locally-based social service workforce.
“Social welfare for children is one of the elements of Child Protection System which plays a key role in preventing and responding to violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect of children.

“Without licensing and an ethical board to regulate and ensure standards, professionalism and accountability of social workers to the public including to children will remain a challenge.”
We must work together to improve protection, health and well-being outcomes for children, youth, families and communities as outlined in the SDGs.”
Also speaking, Director of Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, FMWASD, Mrs Temitope Bamgboye, noted that in realisation of the importance of a legal backing for  effective and qualitative practice of the social work profession in Nigeria, FMWASD and the National Association of Medical Social Workers of Nigeria, NASOW, and other stakeholders initiated a bill on the establishment of the Nigerian Council for Social Work.

Bamgboye who was represented by an Assistant Director, Ben Okwesa, stated:”The Council is to serve as clearing house for the Social work profession in Nigeria, promote professional standards, improve effectiveness and efficiency and regulate the practice of social work. The bill was earlier endorsed by both houses of the NASS, transmitted to President Mohammadu Buhari for assent. “The bill was however returned for some clarifications. The identified grey areas in the bill is receiving attention and with strong support from UNICEF and NASS. We are optimistic that the bill will be returned to Mr President for his assent by the NASS before the next political dispensation.”
Among concerns of the stakeholders is that there are more non-professionals working in the field than the professionals, hence need for regulation to provide a platform that would allow government to address the social and economic difficulties faced by physically-challenged and indigent citizens.

They opined that a strong social welfare workforce strengthened by regulatory mechanism was critical to ensure licensure, certification and registration backed by political, financial, technical and moral support.

Source: Vanguard
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at 20:06 0
The naira remained stable against the dollar at the parallel market in Lagos on Friday, still exchanging at N360 to the dollar.
The naira was, however, traded against Pound Sterling and the Euro at N478 and N417, respectively.
                                                           Naira

At the Bureau De Change (BDC),  the naira was sold at N360 to the dollar, while its rates against the Pound Sterling and the Euro were N478 and N417, respectively.

At the investors’ window,  the naira closed at N364.12 against the dollar where a market turnover of 295.08 million dollars was achieved.


The naira closed at N306.45 to the dollar at the official CBN window.
Traders said that the market had remained active as political activities had begun gradually across the country.

Source: Vanguard
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at 16:33 0
Federal Government says it has disbursed about N2 billion to more than 14, 000 poor people in Kwara since 2016 under its National Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.

Hajia Aminah Yahaya, the Unit Head of the programme in Kwara, Said this on Wednesday in Ilorin at a stakeholders’ meeting on Co-Responsibility Selection.


Yahaya explained that the scheme, which started in Kwara two years ago, had beneficiaries across the 16 local government councils of the state.

According to her, the beneficiaries from Offa were able to save N15 million out of what people would describe as meagre, which had been disbursed for the businesses.


She said that Kwara was among the first eight pilot states of the cash transfer programme.

On the Co-Responsibility Programme, she explained it was a top up programme to the existing cash transfer to be assisted by the World Bank.

She said that beneficiaries of the top up cash transfer would receive N5, 000 monthly, but linked it to the participation in activities focused on human capital development.

In her presentation, Mrs Temitope Sinkaiye, the National Coordinator of the National Conditional Cash Transfer, said that programme was to address challenges and deficiencies of the conditional cash transfer.


“Conditional Cash Transfer supports the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills.
“The overall objectives is aimed at reducing poverty, preventing the vulnerable households from falling further down the poverty line and building their resilience to withstand shocks.

“Top-up Cash transfer incorporates benefits linked to the participation of selected households in activities focused on human capital development and sustainable environment through adherence to specified conditionality known as co-responsibility”, she said.

She said that Kwara was expected to pick one of the co-responsibility areas which were Health, Education, Nutrition and Environment.
According to her, beneficiaries of the top-up will be required to fulfill certain co-responsibility as part of efforts to address the identified challenges.

“The co-responsibility shall be state specific, tailored to the deficiencies and capacities in each state.

“Each state shall depend on their conditions and priorities, choose their co-responsibility area,” she explained.

She added that the programme would ensure increase in children school enrolment and attendance, improve child nutrition, address environmental hazards to improve productive assets and improve utilization of health facilities for ante and post-natal care with child immunization.

She said that the beneficiaries would be trained to build their capacities for enhanced quality of life and also ensure that they made use of services and facilities available to bring about change in behaviour in the area of concern.

NAN

Source: Vanguard
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at 19:59 0
By Elizabeth Adegbesan

The Naira, yesterday, depreciated to N363.88  per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window even as the volume of dollars traded on the window dropped by eight percent.

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window rose to N363.88 per dollar yesterday from N363.74 per dollar last week Thursday, indicating 14 kobo depreciation of the naira.
The volume of dollars (turnover) traded on the window yesterday rose by eight percent to $313.30 million from $289.73 million last week Thursday. However, the Naira yesterday appreciated by 50 kobo in the parallel market.

According to naijabdcs.com, the live exchange rate platform of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the parallel market exchange dropped to N359 per dollar from N359.5 per dollar last week Thursday, indicating 50 kobo appreciation of the Naira.

Source:Vanguard
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