AN APPRAISAL OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA

Studies have shown that earlier programmes aimed at poverty alleviation such as Better Life Programme (BLP)/Family Support Programme (FSP), Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), the National directorate of Employment (NDE), the People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN), Community Banking Scheme, Mass Transit Programme, Petroleum (special) Trust Fund (PTF), etc. all failed, not as a result of poor conception but on account of haphazard, non-focused and blurred implementation process. In some cases, the entire programme was hijacked by buccaneers within the corridors of power. The end result has always been a dismissal performance of such programmes. The major thrust of this paper is to seek to examine the various policies aimed at poverty alleviation, their cause and effects and proffer recommendations that may help to arrest this phenomenon. Introduction The last decade has been a particularly harsh period for many lowincome developing countries. World recession, the debt crisis, exchange rate misalignments, oil price shocks, depressed commodity prices, high level interest rates and stagnation in foreign aid flows have all exerted in their own ways, a heavy toll on developing countries and their people. The economic and invariable the social services sector growth of these countries has been negligible if not negative during this decade. The poor have been particularly ‘hard hit’ by these macro-economic and external problems, as a result of deterioration in real wages, increase unemployment and cut-back in social sector sending. In essence, the poverty situation of the countries has worsened. Nigeria, though part of this global community and blessed with enormous human, material and mineral resources, is still ranked low in the ladder as the 7 poorest country in the world. All known indices of underdevelopment: high infant mortality, extremely poor medical facilities, very low per capital income, none functional social facilities and corruption, etc. are prevalent in the Nigerian socio-economic system. The resultant effect of the above scenario is a ridiculously low and depleted standard of living and mass poverty amongst the populace. This situation has always been of immense concern to successive Nigerian governments. Attempts have been made in the past to address this worrisome The Nigerian Journal of Research and Production Volume 18 No 1, April, 2011 2 state of affair and all such attempts delivered no significant dividend to the target beneficiaries of the programmes. Conceptual Clarification The concept of absolute poverty firstly connotes a standard of living below the minimum needed for maintenance of life and health. Secondly, relative poverty is a condition characterized by a scarcity rather than a lack of economic necessities. A relatively poverty-stricken person is poor in comparison with a majority of others in his society, but his level of living usually does not constitute an immediate threat to life or health. Thirdly, poverty is also conceived as an existential condition in which an individual lacks the skills to sustain a living above poverty line. Thus, the pivot of the programme is to guarantee a sustainable level of technical and financial assistance for millions of people to remain in productive employment. It is therefore desired, that the multi-pronged approach to the poverty epidemic is appropriate. Poverty is multi-faceted, exposure to risk, insufficient access to social and economic service and few opportunities for income generation. Edward Jaycox, the vice president African region of the world Bank, did say that: “over 200 million Africans today live in wrenching poverty”, and that “if the present trends continue, their number could be more than double over the next twenty years, and making sure that this does not happen is the overarching objective of the world Bank and the international community in Africa. ” Given its multi-dimensional nature; poverty has been perceived using different criteria. The central Bank of Nigeria/World Bank defined poverty thus: “poverty may be seen as a reflection of glaring defects in the economy as evidenced in mass penury, pauperization of the working and professional class including artisans, mass unemployment and poor welfare services. It denotes absence or lack of basic necessities of life including material wealth, common place regular flow of wages and income and inability to sustain oneself based on existing resources available. ” In such a state, the means of achieving minimum subsistence, health, education and comfort are absent. That is why Grenwald and association defined poverty as a “condition in which income is insufficient to meet subsistence needs. ”3 in the same vein, Harry Johnson defined poverty as a “situation when the resources of individuals or families are inadequate to provide a socially acceptable standard of living. Sometimes, attention is drawn to the relative nature of poverty and a clear distinction is drawn between the poor and non-poor. According to the World Bank Development Report (WDR), poverty is defined as “inability of certain persons to attain a minimum standard of living. E.O. Abah; Iorkua Mtoo; Philip Agah and A.T. Zever