An Assessment of the Impact of Poverty Reduction Programmes in Nigeria as a Development Strategy
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- To investigate the issues and causes of poverty in Nigeria.
- To examine the poverty reduction strategies and its effectiveness in Nigerian.
- To investigate the impact of various poverty alleviation programmes of government on the lives of rural dwellers
- To examine the linkage between poverty alleviation programme, living conditions of the people and economic development
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with a review of earlier works done in the area of poverty and its reduction. Quite a lot has been and is being documented on poverty and the programmes, policies and strategies for reducing it. As a result, the review undertaken here is rather selective than exhaustive.
THE CONCEPT OF POVERTY
Ravallion and Bidani (1994) refer to poverty as a lack of command over basic needs of consumption, meaning, a state of insufficient consumption level; giving rise to insufficient food, clothing and shelter. Also, Aluko (1975) defined poverty as lack of certain abilities, such as the inability to participate with dignity in societal endeavour.
According to Annan et al. (2000), the Millennium Development Goals are set in precise terms – measured in numbers to ensure accountability. Significant openness and transparency of such numbers can enable countries chart a course to achieve the goals and track progress. Assuming the current understanding that poverty goes beyond material deprivation and capabilities, it is evident in the literature that business as usual will not eliminate or reduce poverty (Karlsson 2001). Tollens (2002) observes that contrary to being an intrinsic characteristic of people, it is a product of the systems of livelihood and the forces (socio–political) that shape them, thereby making poverty reduction highly desirable. However, since the rural poor choose to move to cities without finding employment and income there, some reduction in rural poverty is sometimes accompanied by increased urban poverty. In addition, successful rural poverty reduction usually works by raising the productivity of the poor, while most efforts aimed at alleviating urban poverty are welfare-oriented. Shepherd (2007) believes that meaningful onslaught against poverty must focus on many fronts, engaging both fiscal and non-fiscal challenges. However, Sen (1992) in his theory of poverty implies the idea that poverty is not a natural Phenomenon within a larger frame of inequality problems; rather it can be eliminated if people are enabled to become autonomous from needs. Rejecting the idea of poverty as a natural object and its inevitability in human societies helps us to orient our questioning towards concrete social practices threatening poverty, their transformations and their effects.
As Manning (2007) observed, rapid and sustained poverty reduction requires growth that is ‘pro-poor’, meaning the pace and pattern of growth that enhances the ability of poor women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth. Also, policies for sustaining growth such as those aiming at strengthening institutional capacity, promoting democratic and effective governance should increase poor people’s incentives, opportunities and capabilities for employment so they can participate in and benefit from growth. However, during the past 50 years, the developing world has seen uneven progress on sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The collective record of the past yields three main lessons.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Methodology is the method of arriving at reliable solution to problems through planned and systematic collection of analysis and interpretation of data.
The methods employed in the collection of information for the purpose of this research are textbooks, questionnaires, oral interviews.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. It is adopted because the researcher is interested in the accurate assessment of the characteristics of the whole population through the study of a sample considered to be representative of the population.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is designed to give and analyze the response to the research hypothesis formulated from the stated problems in chapter one of this write up. It deals with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data collected. They were analyzed using tables and chi-square (X2) statistical tool.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
This research study examined the fundamental problems of poverty and development in Nigeria. Attempts have been made to show that past and existing strategies have not adequately addressed the issues of poverty alleviation and development in Nigeria. Poverty alleviation is about how to reverse the poverty causing processes. Consequently, poverty alleviation programmes ought to be specific. The study analyzed the remote and immediate causes of poverty in Nigeria and argues that poverty in Nigeria is prevalent and endemic. The causes identified include: lack of employment, inadequate access to such assets as land and capital, minimal access by the poor to credit facilities, lack of participation by the poor, failure to draw the poor into the design of development programmes and large scale corruption.
The study also revealed that although poverty alleviation initiatives have relatively impacted positively on the lives of the people especially the poor, such impact has been marginal and has not led to the overall reduction or the elimination of poverty thus bringing about development in Nigeria.
Major Findings
The findings of this study show that:
- Poverty is the cause of low standard of living in Nigeria.
- Unemployment and corruption are the major causes of poverty in Nigeria
- Prostitution; armed robbery, ritual killings and child trafficking in Nigeria are as a result of the high poverty level in the country.
CONCLUSION
Despite the abundant human and natural resources available in Nigeria, majority of its citizens are extremely poor. The current estimate of people who live below the poverty line is higher than what was obtainable before the discovery of oil in Nigeria. Historically, the Nigerian poverty situation could be traced to the colonial educational system. The colonialists prepared the early-educated Nigerians for white colour jobs.
Therefore, poverty is on the increase in Nigeria and poverty trend could be traced to Nigeria’s colonial history. The oil boom of 1971 to 1973 improved the welfare of Nigerians and poverty declined. Also, there was an economic growth from 1985 to 1992, which led to a significant reduction in the number of poor people. However, the decline in incomes and welfare from 1993 was due to the reversal of government policies, which increased the percentage of poor people. Therefore, modest economic growth on its own can reduce poverty; while the reversal of government policies could aggravate poverty situations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is the candid belief of the researcher, based on the foregoing studies that:
- Government policy on poverty alleviation should follow a multi-sectoral approach where all the stakeholders are given specific roles to play.
- Government should determine how the intended beneficiaries are to be identified to ensure that the benefits reach them directly.
- Government should initiate a comprehensive method of sustaining the programmes over a specified period of time.
REFERENCES
- Aigbokhan, B. E. (2000a). Poverty, growth and inequality in Nigeria: A case study. African Economic Research Consortium Research Report No.102 (October)
- Aluko S 1975. Poverty: Its remedies. In: Poverty in Nigeria. Ibadan: Proceedings of the 1975 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society, Ibadan, August.
- Asikhia, O. (2010). SMEs and poverty alleviation in Nigeria: Marketing resources and capabilities implications. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 57-70.
- Cornia, G. A. and Kiski, A. (2001). Trends in income distribution in the post- world war II period: Evidence and interpretation. UN-WIDER Discussion paper No. 2001/89.
- Dollar, D. and Kraay, A. (2002). Growth is good for the poor. Journal of Economic Growth, (7)3, 195-225. Easterly, W. (2000). The effect of IMF and World Bank programs on poverty. Washington D. C.: World Bank. Mimeo.
- Karlsson M 2001. Opening address. In: B Pleskovic, N Stern (Eds.): Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2000, pp. 7-11.
- Osmani S 2005. Defining Pro-poor Growth: One-pager No. 9. New York: UNDP, International Poverty Centre
