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PROJECT TOPIC:  POVERTY ALLEVIATION: THE ROLE OF NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME (NAPEP) IN BENIN CITY
Department:  Public Administration
AMOUNT:  10,000
FORMAT:   MS WORD
PAGES:  89
 
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ABSTRACT

This study assessed the impact of Poverty Reduction Programmes as a Development Strategy in Benin – City through the National Poverty Eradication Programme. The study examined issues of poverty and underdevelopment in Nigeria, attributing it to lack of employment, high rate of illiteracy among the citizenry, poor infrastructure, inadequate access to micro credit facilities, mismanagement of public funds, instability of the governments and its policies. The study also examined the efforts made by different governments in alleviating poverty. Poverty is multi-dimensional; it is characterized by lack of purchasing power, exposure to risk, malnutrition, high mortality rate, low life expectancy, insufficient access to social and economic services etc. poverty in Nigeria has reach an alarming level and is blamed on non-clear government social policies, across the world government plays a key role in poverty alleviation. In the case of Nigeria, the inability of successive governments to streamlined and harness the enormous potentials for improved services delivery in all the existing structures of poverty eradication has resulted into persistent poverty. The study seeks to explore the extent to which public policies have affected the poverty alleviation programme in Benin-City with special emphasis on the role of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Poverty is a social problem in which a country is face with cultural, social, political, economic and environmental deprivations. In other words, it is a state of involuntary deprivation to which a person, household, community or nation can be subjected. In recent times, scholars have pointed out that there are reinforcing vicious circles that keep families, regions and countries poor and unable to contribute to national growth (Perry et al, 2006; Okoye and Onyukwu, 2007). In developing countries, poverty level has been on the increase. In Nigeria, for example, the situation has worsened since the late 1990s and can be best described as “inflammable”. As Nnamadi (2003; 60) puts it, poverty in Nigeria has reached an alarming level and has been rising steadily not exponentially.

Aware of the grave consequences of poverty, successive Nigerian governments have designed and implemented numerous policies to tackle the scourge. However, every effort towards this direction has not yielded the expected results. Some believe that bad governance, corruption, low productivity, unemployment, debt-burden and conflicts are associated to failure of poverty eradication. Others attributed the high level of poverty to macro-economic distortion, globalization, high population growth rate and poor human resources development. It is generally believed that acute poverty can be reduced or eradicated through effective policy measure.

The problem of poverty in African is one that has over the years engaged the attention of the international community, governmental and non-governmental organizations including western and African scholars indeed. The issues of poverty and poverty reduction have been a focus of numerous researchers’ discussion, its debates and implementations of the various programmes. In discussing any issue that relates to poverty, one must cast back his mind to the days of the early scholars who contributed immensely on the topic (poverty and poverty alleviation).

According to Anikpo (1995), poverty is the history process of individuals or groups being forcefully eliminated from control of the decision-making machinery that determines the production and distribution of resource in a society. He further explains that poverty manifest in various forms, such as hunger, lack of food, good drinking water, clothes, shelters, good health, poor education and distribution of resources coupled with monopoly of the machinery of decision-making through coercive state apparatus. The concept of poverty and material deprivation is a critical one in contemporary social discussions. Social sciences literature is replete with attempt by economics and other social scientists to conceptualize the phenomenon. Poverty has economic, social and political ramifications. The poor are materially deprived, socially alienated and politically excommunicated. Basically, poverty has been conceptualized in the following ways;

Lack of access to basic needs/goods and

Lack of or impaired access to productive resources.

Poverty as lack of access to basic needs/goods is essentially economic or consumption oriented. Thus the poor are conceived as those individuals or households in a particular society, incapable or purchasing a specified basket of basic goods and services. Basic goods as use here include food, shelter, water, health care, access to productive resources including education, working skill and tools, political and civil rights to participate in decisions concerning socio-economic conditions (Ajakaiye and Adeyeye 2001 in Gbosi, 2004). It is generally agreed that in conceptualizing poverty, low income or low consumption is its symptom. The level of poverty in Nigeria since the implementation of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the 1980s has tremendously increased (UNDP Nigeria, 1998, FOS, 1999, World Bank, 1999).

The poverty profile in Nigeria showed that the incidence of poverty increased from 28.1% in 1980 to 43.6% in 1985, but declined to 42.7% in 1992 and rose again to 65.6% in 1996 (FOS 1999). Since 1990, the country has been classified as a poor nation. The UNDP Human Development indices (HD) for 2001 ranked Nigeria the 142nd with HDI of 0.40 among the poorest countries. From 1980-1996, the population of poor Nigerians increased four folds in absolute terms. The percentage of the core poor increased from 62% in 1980 to 93% in 1996,whereas the moderately poor only rose from 28.9% in 1992 to 36.3% in 1996 (FOS, 1999). The analysis of the depth and severity of poverty in Nigeria showed that rural areas were the most affected. Several reasons accounted for the situation viz; The large concentration of the populace in the rural areas. Many years of neglect of the rural areas in terms of infrastructural development and lack of information on the way government is being run. The CBN/World Bank study on poverty Assessment and Alleviation in Nigeria (1999) attested to the fact that the living and environmental conditions of those living in the rural areas have worsened. Urban poverty is also on the increase in the country. This has been attributed to the under provision of facilities and amenities which are already inadequate to match the growing demand of the urban populace as well as the rural-urban movement which has caused serious pressure on the existing infrastructural facilities.

Concern about this problems as well as efforts made to eradicate or at least reduce it cannot be said to be new. While major reductions in poverty level have been made in developed countries, developing countries, Nigeria inclusive, have been battling with poverty, from one poverty alleviation porgramme to anothereradication programme, but all to no avail. The concern over increasing poverty levels in Nigeria and the need for its eradication as a means of improving the standard of living of the people has led to the conceptualization and implementation of various targeted or non-targeted poverty eradication and alleviation programmes. Both the Nigeria government and donor agencies have been active in efforts in analyzing and finding solutions to the increase of poverty level. Government programmes and agencies designed to impact on poverty include:

The Directorate of food, roads and rural infrastructure (D.F.F.R.I).

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

The establishment of the peoples Banks of Nigeria in 1989.

The Better Life Programme (BLP).

The Family Support Programme (FSP).

The Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP).

National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA).

Operation Feed the Nation (OFN).

National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP).

The Nomadic and Adult Education Programme.

And most recently, with the return of democracy on May 29, 1999, the Federal Government embarked on poverty reduction programme specifically, the government put up the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in the year 2000 which took off in 2001. It was aimed at eradicating absolute poverty and it consist of four schemes, namely;

Youth Empowerment Scheme, Rural Infrastructures and Development Scheme.

Social Welfare Services Scheme.

Rural Resources Development and

Conservation Scheme.

To implement these programmes, the government placed emphasis on complementation, collaboration and coordination between the various tiers of government on one hand and between government, Donor/Agencies, non-governmental organization and Local Communities. A multi-agency implementation structure with coordination, monitoring and evaluating organs was introduced in order to ensure cost effective delivery target with optimal social benefit. NAPEP is being implemented in Nigeria till date. The questions arising from the implementation of NAPEP include:

Is poverty eradicating programme appropriate for Nigeria?

How has government concept of NAPEP affected its success?

How has NAPEP’s activities impacted on poverty reduction as a boost to economic development?

In spite of all the laudable efforts at addressing poverty, the problem still persist in Nigeria.

 

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