Poverty And The Millennium Development Goals In Nigeria: The Nexus

Abstract

This paper made a broad overview of the poverty situation in
Nigeria. The various efforts of Government of Nigeria to stamp
out poverty were examined. Some of such efforts include poverty
eradication programme and poverty alleviation programme (PEP
and PAP), micro credit schemes and employment programmes.
Descriptive research method was adopted and content analysis
technique was essentially used for the study. Some of the findings
indicate that the poverty level is still very high in Nigeria, the reason
being that the Government pursues two incompatible goals at the
same time. For instance Government is pursuing the programme
of poverty eradication and youth employment and at the same time
pursues the policy of downsizing and retrenchment of public
servants. More so the enabling environment is not created to
promote small-scale businesses. The paper recommends that the
power sector should be restructured since it would be difficult for
small business holders to operate and break even without adequate
support from public power supply. Credit scheme programme
should be well articulated and strictly implemented.