Abstract
This paper analyzed the poverty change and mobility, then decomposition
of dynamics in urban and rural areas as well as by other household
characteristics. The study applied decomposition techniques proposed by
Ravallion and Lokshin (2006), which involves growth, poverty, inequality
decomposition, and sectoral decomposition of poverty on General
Household Panel Survey collected between 2010 and 2013.The study was
carried out using the six Geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The population for
the study is in three waves for the three years 162.8, 167.2, 171.8 million
respectively. The sample strategy used for data collection is a stratified
two-stage probability sample which was designed to be representative at
the geopolitical zones (both in urban and rural) level while being
nationally representative as well. The results show that poverty increased
over the period under review as the change in the headcount index was
positive with growth and inequality contributed to this increase overall.
When these decompositions were done in the six geopolitical zones in
Nigeria, we found reductions in headcount poverty in the North Central
and South West mostly accounted for by the growth and distribution
components. Sectoral decomposition of poverty also shows increase in the
overall headcount index over the two periods for which data were
collected and total intra-sect-oral effect, population shift effect, and
interaction effect all contribute to the observed change in poverty. The
policy implication of these findings is that government should intensify
policies efforts towards poverty reduction and these policies must ensure
that inequality is reduced and growth will be more inclusive.