PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA

Several poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria, initiated by both the Government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), aimed at combating and alleviating poverty, have been found not to be successful. Instead of reducing the incidence of poverty, which is their sole aim, these programmes tend to serve as means for draining the national resources due to the pursuit of parochial interests, as a result fostering corruption and dishonesty. For a successful implementation of these programmes, the government and the implementation agencies must take a more proactive approach and specifically look into the area of poor management and poor accountability, among staff. Also poverty is a multidimensional issue, hence cannot be fought focusing only on one sector of the economy, strategies for poverty reduction must also be multidimensional, focusing on all sectors, as well as, on the emancipation of the poor. Strengthen the existing poverty alleviation strategies and ensuring good management could be one major way towards the effective performance of existing poverty alleviation programmes