POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS
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Date
2014
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Department of Religious Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria
Abstract
Poverty is a pervasive and complex problem in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria and especially in the rural regions of Nigeria, its indicators include low family incomes, poor remuneration for workers, inadequate housing, prevalence of diseases, acute water shortage, a pervasive unemployment rate, low producer prices, poor market outlets, and a lack of road networks to enhance transportation of farm produce1. Wealth created in rural areas is easily engulfed by the capitalist-oriented state economy, while restrictions are placed upon the capacity of the local people to develop2 . According to the rural poverty report of 2001 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the task of eradicating poverty requires sustained and consistent, yet flexible, joint action. IFAD maintains that efforts to reduce rural poverty must be multi-targeted because the challenge of ending poverty in developing countries like Nigeria has many dimensions3. The dimension employed in our assessment however, shall be from the Christian perspectives. To this end, this paper aims at articulating the extent and the miasma of poverty in Nigeria; its challenges and the prospects of alleviating it.