Ebonyi State Government has turned down a national poverty index credited to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, listing the State as the seventh poorest state in Nigeria in 2019.
According to the State Government, the listing is fake, fallacious, fraudulent, malicious and mendacious and it is meant to deceive members of the public.
The State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Hon. Orji Uchenna Orji, said, “the report is non-existent, ill-conceived and illogically concocted to deceive members of the public as it has no traces with or contemplations by any official or institution of the National Bureau of Statistics.”
“We submit that this report which is in circulation in many media platforms is fake and fallacious.
“The report is in its entirety fraudulent, malicious and mendacious, and deliberately orchestrated to brainwash gullible members of the public and beat their imaginations as to the actual impact of the modest achievements of the Divine Mandate administration of Governor Umahi to the living standard of the people.
“As a Ministry saddled with the mandate of informative engagement of stakeholders on policy impacts of state government projects and programmes, we hold that the report is non-existent, ill-conceived and illogically concocted to deceive members of the public as it has no traces with nor contemplations by any official or institution of the National Bureau of Statistics.
“The Bureau has never released any statistics about poverty index or human capital development index concerning any State of the Federation since 2015 till date.
“We speak authoritatively that should the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, conduct a nationwide economic impact analysis by state jurisdictions,
“Ebonyi State shall be their model of good governance and economic development in Nigeria, as already proclaimed by different internationally acclaimed Leadership Performance Assessment Organizations.
“Let me inform the detractors that the testimony of the socio-economic transformation of Ebonyi State by the Umahi’s administration has reached unstoppable dimension.”
The Commissioner then urged that public “to dismiss the fake report as incredible, irresponsible, without foundation and criminally woven from the pit of hell to desperately twist the immutable facts about the glorious leadership outing of the leader of our state.”
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate