Addressing Poverty Challenges in Nigeria

Despite the various poverty alleviation programmes adopted by various governments in Nigeria, over 93 million Nigerians still live in poverty, with at least three million sliding into extreme poverty between November 2018 and February 2019. This is a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of these policies and programmes, which is attributable to corruption, high level of inequality in income distribution, low literacy rate and poor skill set, political instability, and poor leadership. It is therefore clear that for there to be an effective poverty alleviation programme in the country, there is a need for corruption to be adequately tackled on all facades; invest largely in quality education by increasing budgetary allocation to education and reviewing the curricula to capture the required skill set. The political system should be restructured to ensure effective and stable governance that cares for the poor. These will increase the population of middle-class in Nigerian, increase demand for locally made goods and services which will in turn, boost local productivity, and ultimately increase employment.