RESULTS OF KATSINA STATE PUBLIC OPINION POLL ON POVERTY IN THE STATE Note: Because Facebook will not allow the graphs in this report to appear, we are only posting the narrative version here. For the full version of this report in PDF format, please send a request to this e-mail: drmahey@yahoo Background: At the end of its nationwide survey, the National Bureau of Statistics listed Katsina State people as the second poorest people in Nigeria with 75% of its people living below poverty line. This became a hot topic of discussion in various fora on- and offline during the month of June 2013. The discussions generated very high level of interest with many issues elucidated by various members of the discussion groups. However, to make the results of these discussions more objective and easier to digest and disseminate, the need arose for an organised collection and compilation of the views of the people of the state and analysis on the issues raised by the discussions. This was meant to form the basis for advocacy in various groups/fora and chart a way forward for all stakeholders to take action. For this reason, KASID (Katsina State Indigenes in Diaspora) organised an online public opinion survey on the “Performance of Katsina State Government on Poverty Eradication”. How the Survey Was Conducted: We set up an online survey using a third party internationally reputable polling company. The questions were set to be majority closed-ended to give the survey its much needed objectivity. However, a ‘comment’ box was provided for participants to make inputs on whatever issues they felt were not adequately dealt with by the closed-ended questions. Each participant provided a few personal details about him/herself (age category and LGA of origin) and answered a total of 10 multiple choice questions. Awareness was created about the survey through multiple announcements and reminders in about a dozen of online fora, direct e-mail contacts and word-of-mouth. The survey went on for a period of twelve days, from 16th to 28th June 2013. Results were collated by the polling agency for further analysis. Results of the Survey: A total of 958 participants visited the survey, and 103 responded to all questions, giving the survey a conversion rate of about 11%. Participants came from 27 of the 34 LGAs in the state, and about one-third (32%) of them were of Katsina LGA origin. Other LGAs with high turnout (i.e. 5% of total polls and above) were Dustinma, Kurfi, Malunfashi and Funtua. Other LGAs ranged between 1% and 4% of total polls. Various age groups participated in the survey. However, almost one-half (48%) were between the ages of 26 and 35, while 32% were 36 to 45 years of age. The rest were either between 18 and 25 or between 46 and 55 years of age. About 88% of the participants believe that there is high level of poverty in Katsina state and 79% believe that poverty has increased significantly since 2007. Sixty-six percent (66%) were of the view that the state is not doing well in tackling poverty while 22% thought the government was doing fairly. While 82% of the participants believed that problems related to youths and women were not being addressed, only 12% were satisfied with the performance of the state government on these issues; 6% did not know. On the question asking about people’s satisfaction with public services such as education, health, and water supply etc, 91% of participants were not satisfied with the state’s public services while 5% were satisfied and the remaining 4% did not respond to the question. On the completion of the stadium in Katsina, 64% of the respondents thought the “state would have been better off spending the money on health, education, agriculture etc”, while 32% thought the stadium “was a priority”; the remaining 4% did not have an opinion on this. Similarly, 82% of the participants thought that building a new government house was “a total of waste of resources” and only 14% thought we “needed a new government house”; the remaining 4% did not express their opinions. When asked what percentage of the state income should go to roads and other construction projects, the majority (over 76%) were of the view that the state should spend no more than 30% of its budget on such capital projects. Participants were asked to rate the general performance of the state government on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). Two-third (66%) of the participants rated the government’s performance at 3 or below. Participants suggested areas they thought would make the most impact on reducing poverty in the state. Five (5) areas received the highest votes, namely (in hierarchical order): education, health, agriculture, water supply and electricity. Challenges of Tackling Poverty in Katsina State: In the ‘comments’ box, various issues were raised. However, participants identified the following as the major stumbling blocks to the reduction of poverty in the state: 1. Failure of the state government to conduct LGA elections. By far, this problem was most mentioned by participants as a major factor contributing to poverty in the state. They believe that failure to conduct LGA elections provides the crippling atmosphere that makes it possible for the state government to hold LGA grants, thereby impoverishing the LGAs even more. 2. Corruption. Many respondents expressed their fears with corrupt elements in the state government, making due process very difficult. One participant cited an example of how nepotism (‘favouritism’) guides most public affairs rather than merit. 3. Lack of electricity. Participants identified the lack of electricity as a major challenge in tackling poverty in the state. Some also lamented on the poor progress in the energy project initiated at Lambar Rimi. 4. Lack of recruitment by government. Participants expressed concern over the lack of recruitment into public services for a long period of time. They specifically lamented on how many public services are run by ‘casual workers’, depriving them of the full benefits of being in full time employees and creating an environment for poor service delivery and its consequences on the overall productivity of the economy. Similarly, respondents gave intelligent insights into possible ways of reducing poverty in the state and recommended as follows. Recommendations: 1. Government should listen to its people. Participants suggested that the state government should devise a means of listening to the real yearnings and aspirations of its people before embarking on capital-intensive projects. They thought this would keep the government and public funds focused on people’s real needs. 2. Conduct LGA elections soon. Conducting LGA elections and especially release of their funds has been most favoured by respondents as a way forward. 3. Invest heavily in health, education and agriculture. Participants have argued that people are most productive when they are healthy, well-fed and educated. 4. Create job opportunities for youths. The government should harness the abundant human and mineral resources in the state through the development of our commerce and industry potentials to create youth-centred projects. 5. Focus on electricity. Many participants reckoned that provision of electricity will ameliorate a lot of the economic hardship as it would boost the opportunity for small-scale businesses in the state. 6. Transparency and accountability. Some participants have feared that the lack of transparency and accountability in running public affairs is at the root of most of the problems in the state. Government should, therefore, make available to its subjects information on how public funds are allocated and disbursed as is the practice in some neighbouring states. 7. People should use their ballots properly. To make a lasting change to poverty in the state, many respondents have recommended the use of the power of the ballot box (not violence) in the future to ensure that only competent, accountable and transparent individuals are elected in to political offices. Strengths and Limitations of this Survey: Although the number of participants in this survey represents only a small fraction of the people of Katsina State, it has highlighted important public views on certain issues related to the state’s economy and governance. For example, there is a high discrepancy between what the state government actually allocates to capital projects (over 70% of the budget in 2013) and the majority of people’s view that capital projects should not take more than 30% of the budget. Even more importantly, the survey has generated sound recommendations originating from participants that cut across various subsets of the population in terms their age groups, geographical origins and vocational endeavours. The author of this report, Dr. M. Aminu, writes from Liverpool, UK
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 11:26:17 +0000
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