47% of Abuja residents earn below N30,000 monthly survey Reveals

47% of Abuja residents earn below N30,000 monthly – Survey

Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide
About 47 per cent of Abuja residents earn less than N30,000 monthly, a demographic household survey carried out by the Federal Capital Territory Administration has revealed.

The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide, gave the figure on Wednesday at the 8th National Conference on Investment.

The conference, organised by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, had as its theme; ‘Creating jobs and wealth through increased investment in small and growing enterprises in Nigeria.’

Akinjide said, “The FCT Administration recently carried out a demographic household survey to generate basic data and information for the purpose of planning and development of the FCT. We were able to ascertain that 72.11 per cent of the households earn below N100,000 per month and that the majority of the workers fall within the low income group.

“About 46.9 per cent earn below N30,000 per month; 19.77 per cent earn between N30,000 and N50,000 per month; while about 5.44 per cent earn between N50,000 and N100,000 per month. This means that only about 28 per cent earn above N100,000 per month in the FCT.”

She said contrary to notions that the FCT economy was driven by the public sector, recent statistics indicated that the private sector, with about 81.57 per cent, was the main driver of the economy.

Akinjide pointed out that only 13.3 per cent of the FCT economy was being driven by the public sector, adding that the solution to the unemployment and poverty problems in the country was in reviving small and medium scale enterprises.

The minister said, “Within the working group of the FCT, 18.43 per cent are public servants; 13.3 per cent are private sector workers and 68.27 per cent are self-employed. Available amenities and facilities are increasingly being stretched and overburdened as a result of the population increase.

“On a yearly basis, the FCT Administration has been increasing efforts in service delivery, but the impact of these efforts is not significantly felt by citizens because of lack of specific and appropriate data for evidence-based policy decisions.”

Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, NIPC, Mr. Mustafa Bello, said the commission had succeeded in establishing a permanent platform to promote investments.

“The NIPC has developed a draft sector-specific investment incentives policy, which we shall present to you for inputs as stakeholders,” he told the participants.