POVERTY ALLEVIATION AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT

In every economy, government policy interventions are aimed at, among other objectives, attaining higher rates of economic growth and development so as to improve the welfare of citizenry bearing in mind the prevailing conditions. The Nigerian military regime, which in the 1980s opted for Structural Adjustment Programme (S.A.P.) as a solution to the ailing economy later discovered that the poor were most adversely affected by the S.A.P. policies. Considering the deteriorating poverty level in the country, the government therefore found it necessary to put in place programmes meant to provide safety nets for the poor. Some of the programmes that came into being as a result of this concern include National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), National Directorate of Employment (NDE) etc.. The justification of this study hinges on the fact that the impact of these programmes is debatable as regards reducing the poverty level in the country. With NDE and its activity in Kwara state as the focus of this research, the study, relied on secondary data generated from specialized documents of the NBS. It was designed to assess the impact of this programme on the level of poverty in Kwara State. Concepts and measures of poverty, as well as some relevant theories of poverty that seek to expose the causes and effects of poverty in developing countries were discussed. In assessing the impact of these programmes in the study area, the empirical technique Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was adopted because of the BLU properties it possesses. Other tests were used to complement the OLS technique. These tests include the unit root test to check for non-stationarity of variables, and the cointegration test to check for longrun relationship among variables. Our findings reveal that the programmes have not been able to significantly reduce the level of poverty in the study area. The failure of the programmes to significantly reduce poverty is attributed to among others, the narrow coverage of the programmes and the fact that many of the beneficiaries did not put the skills acquired into use as was expected in respect of National Directorate of Employment. One of the most significant reasons for the ineffectiveness of these programmes is the non involvement of the stakeholders, particularly the poor who were the target beneficiaries. Thus an important conclusion of the study is that the non involvement of the poor in the programme design and execution is a critical factor in the failure of the programmes. It is therefore the recommendation of this study that the involvement of the poor themselves in the conception, planning and implementation of programmes meant for them as well as the institution of good governance in the administration of pro-poor programmes are crucial in the efforts towards reducing poverty in Nigeria. The involvement of beneficiaries in the programmes ensures ownership and commitment that help to promote sustainability of such programmes thereby making the programmes more effective towards attaining the set goals.