TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5 SCOPE OF RESEARCH
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
17.1 Sources of Data
1.7.2 Sample Survey Units
1.7.3 Sampling Frame
1.7.4 Sample Designs
1.7.5 Administration of Questionnaire
1.7.6 Methods of Data Analysis
1.8 OUTLINE OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 CONCEPTS AND MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY
2.2.1 Absolute Poverty
2.2.2 Relative Poverty
2.2.3 Subjective Poverty
2.3 REVIEW OF THEORIES
2.3.1.Individualistic Theory of Poverty
2.3.2 The Culture of Poverty
2.3.3 Situational Theory of Poverty
2.3.4 Structural/Marxian Theory of Poverty
2.3.5 Social Exclusion Theory
2.4 CAUSES OF POVERTY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
2.5 EFFECTS OF POVERTY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
CHAPTER THREE: GOVERNMENT POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES
3.2 AGRICULTURE
3.2.1 Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure
3.2.2 National Agricultural Land Development Authority
3.2.3 Strategic Grains Reserve Programme
3.3 EMPLOYMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
3.3.1 National Directorate of Employment (NDE)
3.3.2 Better Life Programme/Family Support Programme
3.3.3 Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP)
3.4 HEALTH
3.4.1 Primary Health Care
3.4.2 Guinea Worm Eradication Programme
3.5 FINANCE
3.5.1 People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN)
3.5.2 Community Bank
3.5.3 The National Economic Reconstruction Fund
3.6 EDUCATION
3.6.1 Nomadic Education Programme
3.6.2 Universal Basic Education
3.7 TRANSPORT
3.8 HOUSING
3.9 PETROLEUM (SPECIAL) TRUST FUND (PTF)
3.10 THE POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME
3.11 THE NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.2 MODEL OF THE STUDY AND SAMPLING FRAME
4.3 DATA PRESENTATION AND DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
4.3.1. Secondary Data
4.3.2. Primary Data
4.4 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
4.4.1. Computation of Incidence of Poverty
4.4.2. Examination of Statistical Significance
4.5. DISCUSSION OF MAJOR ENDINGS
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 SUMMARY
5.2 CONCLUSIONS
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
5.4 MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE
5.5 SUGGESTIONS ON AREAS OF FURTHER RESEARCH
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
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. 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 are the National Directorate of Employment
(NDE), the People’s Bank of Nigeria as well as the Primary Health Care
(PHC). These three programmes are the focus of this research. The study, which relied on primary data generated from an administered questionnaire, was designed to assess the impact of these programmes on the level of poverty in Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau States. Two local government areas in each of the three states were randomly selected for the study. Literature review focused on 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. In assessing the impact of these programmes in the study area, the research adopted a descriptive approach supported by the Foster, Geer and Thorbecke (FGT) poverty index as well as the Z test distribution at 5% level of significance. 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; the loans acquired from People’s Bank were diverted. Primary Health Care facilities were inadequate and failed to meet the minimum expectation of those who patronized them. 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.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Prior to the commercial mining of fossil oil in Nigeria, the economy depended mainly on agricultural products for its domestic food supply and foreign exchange earnings. This situation however, changed as the advent of oil boom led to the neglect of the agricultural sector. In addition, the nation’s economic policies during the oil boom period paid little or no attention to the non-oil export sector. The result of this neglect was that Nigeria turned from being a major agricultural exporter and largely self-sufficient in food in the 1960s to a net food importer in the 1970s (Atoloye, 1997). The World Bank Report on Poverty and Welfare in Nigeria (World Bank, n.d.) which described the undesirable effects of developing one sector on the activities in other sector(s) of the economy provided a good illustration of the crisis in Nigeria.
The report revealed that though Nigeria has abundant land, oil and natural resources, many of her citizens are still very poor (World
Bank, n.d.). The Bank observed that the country’s earnings of about
U.S. $200 billion between 1970 and 1990 from oil had impacted little.....
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