SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFINASARAWA STATE

A SEMINAR PAPER ONEMPHIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT ANDPOVERTY IN NIGERIA (1990-2012)

BEING PAPER PRESENTED AS COURSE WORKTO THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSSINESSADMINISTRATION, NASSARAWA STATE

UNIVERSITY.

BY GROUP ONE (1) 2012/2013 MBA SET

S/N NAME MATRIC NUMBER1. UTI THERESA NSU/ADM/MBA/001/12/132. GIDADO MOHAMMED USMAN NSU/ADM/MBA/002/12/133. IDONGESIT INECHUKWU ADEWUYI NSU/ADM/MBA/004/12/134. UDUNCBWU KELECHI CHRISTINA NSU/ADM/MBA/012/12/135. ASUELIME BLESSING OHOEROMON NSU/ADM/MBA/014/12/136. QASEEM BAPPA PINDIGA NSU/ADM/MBA/020/12/137. UMAR ALIYU MUHDRILWANU NSU/ADM/MBA/025/12/13

8. DARAMOLA OPEMIPO NSU/ADM/MBA/028/12/139. ARABA FOLUSOLA LILIAN NSU/ADM/MBA/034/12/1310 AHMED ISHAQ YUSUF NSU/ADM/MBA/038/12/1311 ASANA ANASTASTA OGUCHE NSU/ADM/MBA/052/12/1312 MOHAMMED GIMBA IBRAHIM NSU/ADM/MBA/053/12/1313 ROSELINE JOHN GARBA NSU/ADM/MBA/057/12/1314 ABUBAKAR BISAILA NSU/ADM/MBA/059/12/1315 EZE CHRISTIANAH CHINYERE NSU/ADM/MBA/062/12/1316 OCHEPA UNOGWU GODWIN NSU/ADM/MBA/065/12/1317 OLORUNDARE FESTUS IBITOYE NSU/ADM/MBA/066/12/1318 OKIKE OBASI NSU/ADM/MBA/068/12/13 19 AMIARA HENRY OGBONNA NSU/ADM/MBA/069/12/1320 OBILE JOYCE NSU/ADM/MBA/070/12/13

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Conceptual Review

2.1 Meaning and Concept of Unemployment

2.2 Meaning and Concept of Poverty

2.3 Unemployment-Poverty Linkage

2.4 Theories of Poverty

2.4.1 Individualistic Theory

2.4.2 The Culture of Poverty

2.4.3 Situational Theory of Poverty

2.4.4 Structural/Marxian Theory of Poverty

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Empirical Review

3.1 Empirical Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

4.1 Summary of the Findings

4.2 Conclusion

4.3 Recommendations

References

ABSTRACT

The study empirically assessed the relationship

between poverty and unemployment in Nigeria from

1990 and 2012. Using Empirical data Analysis from

the Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of

Statistics as the method of estimation, findings

from the study revealed that unemployment rate

positively and insignificantly impacted on poverty

rate. Based on the finding of the study, it was

recommended among others, that government should

provide the necessary infrastructures needed to

lay a solid foundation for investment to thrive;

that apart from providing the infrastructures

government also needs to make monetary and fiscal

policies that would make investing in Nigeria

attractive, this would also encourage the private

sector especially foreigners to invest thereby

creating more employment opportunities; that human

investment is a priority in a populous country

like ours, and thus education should be tailored

towards the acquisition of skills and technology

as relevant and required to meet the needs of

modem industries and companies; and that poverty

alleviation programmes and employment programmes

targeted at the youths is important and efforts

should be made to ensure that they are indeed the

beneficiaries.

Key words: Poverty, Unemployment, Infrastructure,

Government, Investment, Foreigner, Industry,

Technology.

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the major goals of any economy is the

achievement of full employment. Attainment of this

macroeconomic objective has remained an issue that

continues to receive attention in developing

countries, particularly those in Africa where

high-level poverty exists with increasing

unemployment rates. In an attempt to address the

poverty and unemployment problem in Nigeria, a

plethora of strategies and measures have been

proposed, some of which have been adopted (Oni,

2006). It appears that a consensus is emerging on

the idea that the problem of poverty can be solved

by vigorously dealing with unemployment

opportunities. The idea is based on the linkage

between income and poverty (Boateng, 2004).

Income-generating employment is expected to lead

to improvement in household welfare, since

households can meet their needs with the income,

the higher the level of welfare. Conversely,

unemployment leads to low or no income and,

therefore, low or poor living standards. This has

serious economic, social and political

implications for the individual, his household and

society. Unemployment problem in Nigeria has

different dimensions. There are underemployment

cases in which people receive incomes that are

inadequate to support their basic needs, in terms

of food, clothing and shelter. There are also

cases of disguised unemployment where people take

up jobs that are below their educational '

attainment and experience (Bankole, 1999). The

worst case of all is that of people seeking for

job opportunities but who cannot find any either

in the public or the private sector. Some people

are willing and ready to set up enterprises

themselves and engage in one type of economic

activity or the other but are constrained by the

prevailing poor macroeconomic environment. All

these have contributed significantly to the high

level of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.

Another dimension of unemployment problem in

Nigeria is the differentials in its manifestation

by sector, sex and educational level. For

instance, in Nigeria, available data from the

National Bureau of Statistics shows that as the

incidence of poverty is serious economic, social

and political implications for the individual, his

household and society.

Unemployment problem in Nigeria has different

dimensions. There are underemployment cases in

which people receive incomes that are inadequate

to support their basic needs, m terms of food,

clothing and shelter. There are also cases of

disguised unemployment where people take up jobs

that are below their educational ' attainment and

experience (Bankole, 1999). The worst case of all

is that of people seeking for job opportunities

but who cannot find any either in the public or

the private sector. Some people are willing and

ready to set up enterprises themselves and engage

in one type of economic activity or the other but

are constrained by the prevailing poor

macroeconomic environment. All these have

contributed significantly to the high level of

unemployment and poverty in Nigeria. Another

dimension of unemployment problem in Nigeria is

the differentials in its manifestation by sector,

sex and educational level. For instance, in

Nigeria, available data from the National Bureau

of Statistics shows that as the incidence of

poverty is higher in the rural than urban area, so

also is the rate of unemployment, particularly in

the late 1990s and 2000s. Also, in Nigeria and

other African countries, the incidence of poverty

is higher among those who have little or no

education than the other categories. In the same

vein, the proportion of employment persons with

little or no education is higher than all other

categories of people with different levels of

education (NBS, June 2005).

The foregoing has shown that the ·problem of

unemployment in Africa and particularly in Nigeria

has to be addressed not only by looking at its

size but also at its dimensions. This therefore

requires a pragmatic approach which involves

analysis of both the theoretical and empirical

Issues on the demand and supply sides of the

labour market.

In addition, allocation of resources, including

human resources, has been influenced by the

prevailing schools of thought and policy regimes.

The main controversial issue among the schools of

thought in economic analysis has been the role of

market and government in resource allocation for

economic growth and development. The classical

school has argued that the market is more

efficient in resource allocation than government;

hence, competitive forces of demand and supply

should allocate all resources, while government

should play a minimal role in the economy.

However, the great depression of the 1930s and the

failure of the market to resolve the aftermath

macroeconomic crisis during this period led the

Keynesian school to challenge the philosophy of

the classical school. The Keynesian school argued

that government should play a major role in the

economy so as to increase the level of aggregate

demand, promote growth and ipso facto employment.

This view has consistently been popularized by the

International Labour Organisation (ILO) in all its

employment generation projects in developing

countries (ILO, 2006).

The two schools of thought have influenced

employment policies and programmes in developing

countries. Although government in Nigeria has one

way or the other influenced employment decisions

in the private sector, private sector employment

decisions have always been based on productivity,

market demand and profitability of firms. On the

other hand, employment in the public sector has

been influenced mainly by policy regimes and

development strategies. Therefore, there have been

direct and indirect approaches to employment

generation in Nigeria. A number of policies,

programmes and laws have been designed and

executed by successive governments in Nigeria to

tackle the problem of employment and poverty,

since it is believed that the two go together.

These policies and programmes were included in the

National Development Plans (NDPs) and the rolling

plans as well as in the current National Economic

Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS),

National Directorate of Employment (NDE),

Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), Seven-Point

Agenda, Transformation Agenda and SURE - P.

The first NDP (1962 to 1968) had, as one of its

main objectives and targets, the provision of

'opportunities in health, education and employment

for all citizens'. The plan also accorded priority

to agriculture and industry (which have high

employment generation potential) and the training

of high intermediate manpower. Similarly, the

second NDP (1970 to 1974) targeted building 'a

land with bright and full opportunities for all

citizens. Against this · background, agriculture,

transportation and manpower development were

accorded with priorities in resource allocation.

Further, the third NDP (1975 to 1980) aimed at a

drastic reduction in the level of unemployment,

and an increase in the supply of high level

manpower'. This critical goal was amplified in the

fourth NDP (1981 to 1985). All these have led to

the implication of various programmes and

expansions in public sector activities (Oni,

2006).

In 1986, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)

was introduced. The government, thus, embarked on

rolling plans executed via the annual budget.

During the implementation of SAP and beyond,

several programmes to promote human resource

development, employment and poverty eradication

were implemented. These programmes included the

Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural

Infrastructure (DFRRI, established under Decree

No. 4 of 1987), the National Directorate of

Employment (NDE, established under Decree No. 24

of 1989), Better Life Programme (BLP) for rural

women, Family Support Programme (FSP) and the

Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP).

Among other roles, the NDE was given the

responsibilities of designing and executing

programmes to tackle the problem of mass

unemployment in the economy: articulating policies

aimed at developing work programmes with labour-

intensive potential; obtaining and maintaining a

data bank on employment and vacancies. On the

other hand, DFRRI had as one of its

responsibilities the development of rural road

networks and electrification; encouraging

participation and contribution of local

communities in community development activities.

Also, the FSP and FEAP were meant to encourage and

empower women to engage in productive, cooperative

income-generating activities.

The present democratic regime which started in

1999 has also made efforts towards eradicating the

problem of employment and poverty in Nigeria. The

regime started poverty alleviation and employment

promotion, with the enhancement of income or

workers in the public sector, which has positive

effects. The policies and employment generation

programmes in Nigeria are as follows; seven Points

Agenda, Transformation Agenda and SURE-P. This

employment and poverty eradication programme

recognized and supported the activities of NDE,

with the creation of Poverty Alleviation Programme

(PAP) which was later changed to the National

Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP). Some

infrastructural development projects have been

completed, while some are still ongoing. A number

of reform programmes have been implemented under

NEEDS, with positive and negative employment

consequences. For instance, the reform of the

telecommunication sector is said to have promoted

employment, while the rightsizing of the public

sector has been seen to have negative employment

effects.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 CONCEPTUAL REVIEW

2.1 Meaning and Concept of Unemployment

The international labour organization (ILO)

defines unemployment as numbers of the

economically active population who are without

work but available for and seeking work, including

people who have lost their jobs and those who have

voluntarily left. Although there seems to be a

convergence on this concept, its applications have

been bedevilled with series of problems across

countries. First, most published unemployment

rates are recorded open unemployment. People's

attitudes on this vary from country to country.

While the rate may be high in developed countries,

it is likely to be very low in the developing

countries including Nigeria. Okigbo (2007) points

out the problems arising from the concept of

labour force. In most countries, particularly in

Nigeria, people below the age of 15 and those

above the age of 55, who are actively engaged in

economic activities, are usually excluded from

labour statistical surveys.

This could result in underestimation of

employment.

Although there seems to be consensus on the

definition of unemployment, the problem of its

definition has received attention in the

literature. Dantwala (2006) defines unemployment

as a state in which people who can work are

without jobs and are seeking for pay of profit.

This definition gives rise to the problem of

measurement, especially when we are interested in

knowing the average rate of unemployment in the

economy over a period of time. False (2007)

considers such a definition too broad because some

categories of people who are without work should

not really be regarded as unemployed in any I I

meaningful sense. He therefore points to the

labour code prescription of lower and upper limits

for the labour force in Nigeria and agree that

anyone who is unable to work is not counted as

unemployed, even though he or she would like to

work. Englama (2001) points out that the

unemployment rate in an economy is the number of

people unemployed expressed as a percentage of the

total labour force. The total labour force is

defined as the number of people employed plus the

number of people unemployed within the age bracket

of 15-60 years.

Unemployment exists when members of the labour

force wish to work but cannot get jobs (Adebayo,

1999). The foregoing indicates the complexities of

measuring unemployment in Nigeria, as the official

statistics is grossly inadequate to capture the

real problem. Unemployment in Nigeria can be

broadly divided into two main groups. Open

unemployment and underemployment or disguised

unemployment. Lambo (2000) opines that open

unemployment is mainly associated with the urban

areas of the country, while disguised unemployment

applies to the rural agricultural zone. According

to Todaro (1992), open unemployment involves

people who are able and often eager to work but

for whom no suitable jobs are available whereas,

underemployment or disguised unemployment is

mainly for people who are normally working full-

time but whose productivity is so low that a

reduction in hours would have a negligible impact

on total output. The rate of unemployment is

significantly higher in urban areas than in rural

areas. This is because rural areas usually have

more self-employed workers, whether in family

farms or non-agricultural enterprises. This

situation of rural areas IS known as disguised

unemployment (Heckman et.al, 2008).

Conceptually, people are classified as employed if

they did not work at all as paid employees during

the reference period; or if they worked in their

own business, profession, or on their own farms.

People are also counted as employed if they were

temporarily absent from their jobs because of

illness, bad weather, vacation, labour management

disputes or personal reasons. People are

classified unemployed if they meet all of the

following criteria; they had no employment during

the reference period; they were available for work

at that time, and they made specific efforts to

find employment sometime during the period.

Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall

need not look for work, to be counted as

unemployed. The civilian labour force is the sum

of employed and unemployed persons. Those not

classified as employed or unemployed are not in

the labour force. The unemployment rate is the

number of unemployed, as a percentage of the

labour force. The labour force participation rate

is the labour force as a percentage of the

population, and the population.

2.2 Meaning and Concept of Poverty

According to the World Bank (2008) poverty is

hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and not being

able to go to school, not knowing how to read, not

being able to speak properly, not having job, fear

for the future , losing a child to illness brought

about by unclean water, powerlessness, lack of

representation and freedom. Kankwenda, et al

(2000) sees poverty as either absolute or relative

or both. Absolute poverty being that which could

be applied at all time in all societies such as

for instance the level of income necessary for

bare subsistence, while relative poverty relates

to the living standards of the poor to the

standards that prevail elsewhere in the society in

which they live. Ravallion and Bidani (2004)

refers to poverty as lack of command over basic

consumption needs, which in other words means that

there is an adequate level of ·consumption given

rise to insufficient food, clothing and or

shelter. Closely related to the definition is the

measurement of poverty. Foster Greer and Thorbeck

(2004) opined that the most frequently used are:

i. The head count index which is the

percentage of the population living in the

household with a consumption per capital

below the poverty line;

ii. Poverty gap index which measures the depth

of poverty by taking into consideration the

average poor person's income that is from

the poverty line and

iii. Mean squared poverty gap, this is a

sensitive measure of poverty severity gap.

It define square poverty gap as the mean of

the squared proportionate poverty gap, this

reflects the depth of poverty or the

severity of poverty.

Human Development Index (HDI) combines three

components in measuring poverty, these are the

standard of living, educational attainment and

life expectancy at birth determined by the

nation's per capita income (UNDP 1999)

Before the consequences of poverty- are examined

especially as it relates to Nigeria, it is

important to identify the basic causes of poverty.

Obadan (1997) in assessing the causes of poverty

in Nigeria, identified the following as the major

ones in Sub-Saharan Africa; inadequate access to

employment opportunities, inadequate physical

assets such as lands and capital; low endowment to

human capital; inadequate access to assistance for

those living at the margin and those victimized by

transitory poverty; minimal access to credit, even

on a small scale e.t.c. According to the World

Bank (2001), one of the routes for investigating

the causes of poverty is to examine the dimension

highlighted by the poor. The dimension includes

lack of income and assets to attain basic needs;

sense of voicelessness and powerlessness in the

institutions of state and society; and

Vulnerability to adverse shocks, lined to an

inability to cope with them (World Bank 2000/2001)

. A study on poverty in Nigeria carried out by the

World Bank in 1995 linked poverty to poor physical

facilities, food security, obsolete agricultural

practices, poor nutritional values, little access

to savings and credits and general inability to

meet basic needs (Tella, 2007) .

Also, the study by Abdullahi (2005) identified the

following as the causes of poverty. Structural

poverty which is a more permanent phenomenon

depend on factors such as limited productive

resources, lack of skills for gainful employment

vocational disadvantage or endemic socio-political

and cultural factors. The other type is

conjectural poor transitory poverty. While

structural poverty is long-term and persistent

transitory poverty is short-term and it causes

more reversible. The causes include natural

disaster such as flood, drought, earthquakes, war

and environmental degradation, increase

unemployment and price changes resulting from

changes in domestic policies of the government.

In discussing the consequences of poverty, Narayan

et al (2008) said because of poverty most

households are crumbling under the weight of

poverty, while some households are able to remain

intact in the face of the rising poverty, many

others have disintegrated as men, unable to adapt

to their failure to earn adequate incomes under

harsh economy.

Circumstances have difficulty accepting that women

are becoming the main bread winners that

necessitates a redistribution of income within the

households. The resultant effect of this is often

alcoholism and domestic violence on the part of

men and a breakdown of the family structure. Women

in contrast tend to swallow their pride and go out

into the street to do demeaning jobs to be able to

put food on the table for their children and

husbands. Again, corruption, nepotism, crimes and

other social vices are products of poverty. As

long as making ends meet remain difficult, the

propensity to explore other avenue such as

stealing and bribery is high (Aku et al, 1999).

Poverty is a living condition and increasing as

well as becoming intractable problem in Nigeria.

It has been define differently by differently by

different writers.

Balogun (1999) defines Poverty in its absolute

sense, as a situation where a population or a

section of the population is able to meet only its

bare subsistence essentials of food, clothing and

shelter in order to maintain minimum standard of

living. This definition requires that a yardstick

be set which can be used to assess living

standards so as to determine who is poor and who

is not. This "led to the emergence of the concept

of poverty line based on the level of per-capita

income or consumption of individuals or households

within a region or country. This is usually

defined as the cut-off living standard level below

which a person is classified as poor.

The World Development report (1999) used a lower

poverty line of $370 income (in 1985 purchasing

power parity dollar) per-capita as a cut off for

absolute poverty. People whose consumption levels

fall below that level are considered poor and

those below US$275 as very poor.

Englama and Bamidele (1999) cited in Balogun

(2003)summarised the definition of poverty in both

absolute and relative terms as a "state when an

individual is not able to cater adequately for

his/her basic needs of food, clothing and shelter

meet social and economic obligations; lack gainful

employment, skills, assets and self-esteem; and

has limited access to social

and economic infrastructures such as education,

health, portable water; and sanitation, and as a

result has limited chance of advancing his/her

welfare to the limit of his/her capabilities”.

Oladunni (2005) defines poverty in terms of

insufficient income for securing the basic

necessities of life such as food, potable water,

clothing and shelter. She also say poverty may be

viewed in terms of the consequences: such as

deficient provision of goods and services,

deprivation and lack of rights such as it affects

the girl-child due to male child preference,

insufficient capability as well as social and

economic exclusion mechanisms. Poverty may be

absolute, relative, chronic, transient, mass or

localised.

Absolute poverty is lack of physical minimum

requirements for a person's or household's

existence. On the other hand, relative poverty

refers to a situation where a person or households

is/are with provision of goods and services which

is lower than that of other person(s) or group.

Consequently, poverty is defined simply as a

condition in which an individual does not have

enough food to eat; poor drinking water;

sanitation; nutrition, shelter; high infant

mortality rate; low life expectancy, energy, low

consumption, educational opportunities; lack of

productive participation in the decision making

process either as it affects the individuals or in

national arena be it management or political.

Awoseyila (2008) defines relative poverty as a

condition in which households, overtime, fall

short of the resources to maintain their standard

of living.

Applying the concept of· poverty to Nigeria,

Awoseyila (2005) states that those classified as

poor included households below the poverty like

those lacking access to basic economic and social

services, rural dwellers with lack of essential

infrastructure, the unemployed, among others.

Measured in absolute and relative terms, poverty

in Nigeria is generally more severe in rural

communities and among vulnerable groups in urban

centres. The incidence differs with household

size, gender, educational, age and occupational

distribution of household’s heads.

Poverty has been defined as the inability to

attain a minimum standard of living by the world

Development Report, 1990. The report constructed

two indices based on a minimum level of

consumption and standard of living. While the

first index was a country's specific poverty line,

the second was global, allowing cross-country

comparison. The United Nations uses other indices

as life expectancy, infant mortality rate, primary

school enrolment, and the number of persons per

physician, for example. Poverty defies objective

definition because it is multidimensional in

nature. Ravallion and Bidani (1994) refer to

poverty as a lack of command over basic

consumption needs, in other words, an inadequate

level of consumption, insufficient food, clothing

and shelter (Aluko, 1975). Obadan (1997) discussed

the Issue of poverty by looking at the general

framework of poverty in Nigeria. He sees poverty

reduction as a necessary but not sufficient

condition for economic growth. He argues that

investment in human capital is necessary to equip

the poor to enable them share in the benefits of

development.

2.3 Unemployment - Poverty Linkage

The nexus between unemployment and poverty is well

acknowledged in development theories. Achieving a

high level of employment (preferably ‘full

employment’) is a common goal among policy-makers.

Employment expansion was central to early

development theories. Due to their high aggregate

conceptualization and slight regard for the

institutional complexities of rural- and urban

labour markets in low-income countries, however,

some early theories were not very useful

instruments for guiding policies. Too broad on

aggregate of labour and on equally

undifferentiated treatment of capital (that is,

the assumption of its homogeneity) in economic

growth models have plagued theories and prevented

human resources from being appropriately

incorporated into development theories (Hulme and

Mosley, 1995).

Economic development theory offered little

guidance with regard to employment strategies and

the institutional aspect of their implementation.

In the 1980s, the strategies for reducing poverty

by providing for basic needs were pursued, at

best, parallel to growth-oriented concepts, or

were even seen as competing with them (Streeten,

1999). Employment considerations did play a role

in the development strategy debates. Food and

agriculture sectors play key roles in the

development process (Otero, 1993). Many countries

undergoing structural adjustment programmes

increased their employment programmes for

institution in poverty reduction without much

involvement off the international institutions

guiding the adjustment policies at the initial

stage. These international institutions are mainly

the international monetary fund and the World

Bank. This changed only to a limited extent in the

early 1990s, when the long-term potential for

reducing poverty through employment became more

widely recognized (Obike, 2006).

For poverty to be eliminated, the economy must

grow at higher rates. The poor state off the

agricultural sector is however the bargain of mass

poverty, since the sector is the largest employer

of labour. For sustainable economic development

and poverty alleviation, the agricultural sector

must growth appreciably. However, low marginal

labour productivity and low wages in the

agricultural sector are contributory factors to

poverty, massive rural emigration and desertion of

the agricultural sector (Nwajiuba, 2005).

2.4 THEORIES OF POVERTY

2.4.1 Individualistic Theory

This theory is viewed from the angle of the

individual's inability to be productive so as to

get out of poverty. As argued by O'Donnell (1997),

writers of 19th century and early 20th century in

both Britain and United States attributed poverty

to individual weakness. This theory was founded'

on self-help and survival m which those who work

hard succeed while the weak fail to succeed giving

rise to the non-poor and the poor respectively.

The individual attribute theory is of the view

that the poor are the architects of their

misfortune. The attributes exhibited by the poor

as argued by Uniamikogbo (1997) are sometimes

within a structure of possibilities and limits

defined by forces outside the scope of the

individual. The poor under this condition may

remain poor except if the society is able to

increase his/her Income significantly through

deliberate efforts aimed at pulling him out of

poverty (Archibong, 1997). Programmes established

in Nigeria in line with this theory are: poverty

alleviation programme (PAP) and the on-going

national poverty reduction programme (NAPEP). This

is because these two programmes have been

characterized by payment of stipends (in case of

PAP) and granting of loans to individuals under

NAPEP.

2.4.2 The Culture of Poverty

The culture of poverty also known as vicious of

poverty was developed in late 1950s, by Oscar

Lewis from a field study among the urban poor in

Mexico and Puerto Rico (Islam, n.d.; Haralambos

and Heald, 1999). It is known as culture of

poverty theory because it concerns people whose

environment and belief exhibit different culture

and or a sub-culture from the rest of the society.

The emphasis on fatalism and resignation by the

theory which explains the situation of the poor in

colonial or early stages of capitalism suggests

that even if the poor as argued in Transition

Events in the Dynamics of Poverty (n.d.) have the

ample opportunities for improving their welfare,

they lack the initiative and diligence needed to

take advantage of such opportunities.

They thus, need voluntary or state support to

psychologically gear them up to take advantage of

the opportunities that may come their way.

2.4.3 Situational Theory of Poverty

This theory which was to response to the culture

of poverty theory views poverty as a reaction to

situational constraints rather than an issue of

culture. That poverty results from imposed

constraints such as low income, unemployment and

illness (O'Donnell 1997; Haralambos and Heald

1998).

Haralambos and Heald further argued that the poor

share the same culture with that of the society

with the difference being their inability to

translate opportunities into realities due to

imposed constraints.

The theory holds that people are poor due to the

fact that they find themselves in a situation of

'no' resource and opportunities for them to

advance their welfare. It lays emphasis on the

structural conditions that lead to poverty and at

the same time focuses on the individual response

to the objective situation of poverty (Islam

n.d.). Situational poverty differs from the

culture of poverty as it does not assume the pre-

existence of a sub-culture that makes the

behaviour of the poor to become coherent and

solid. It implies that in the absence of this sub-

culture, he poor can easily get out of poverty if

imposed constraints are tackled.

This theory underpins the establishment of the

National Directorate of Employment where school

leavers who are unemployed can be engaged.

2.4.4 Structural/Marxian Theory of Poverty

The Structural/Marxian theory of poverty is hinged

on the fact that capitalism brings about

fundamental social problems including severe by

inequality which leads to poverty. Since wealth is

concentrated in the hands of a minority who are

bent on pursuing profits through exploitation of

labour, redistribution of resources is more within

the classes than between classes. Those stricken

by poverty are often subjugated by bourgeoisie so

as to glean profits and capital via exploitation.

This means that poverty is a class rather than an

individual or group issue (O'Donnell, 1997;

Haralambos and Heald, 1998). It is the

macrostructure of a capitalist society that

produces inequality and consequently poverty

argued Islam (n.d.). In their contributions,

Archibong (1997) and Uniamikogbo (1997) argued

that institutions and class exploitation account

for poverty as people suffer in the hand of the

privileged class and institutional arrangements.

That the poor in, a society arise spontaneously

with inequality. The poor are unable to attain

higher living standard al1.d thus come out of

poverty because the capitalist arrangement is

biased against them.

It is important to stress that the degree of

success or otherwise of the exploiting class

depends on the consciousness of those oppressed to

revolt as well as their organizational capacity

resist exploitation and over throw the mechanisms

of the oppressive property system. This theory

therefore explains the situation of developing

countries where there is coexistence of low

political consciousness due largely to high rates

of illiteracy on the part of the masses, and a

high degree of centralization of resources which

the ruling class exploits. This theory form the

basis of the Nigeria's anti-corruption crusade

which is a direct intervention towards ensuring

that corrupt enrichment of public officers is

curbed. The success of this action, all things

being equal is expected to make more resources

available for execution of projects and

consequently raise standard of living of Nigerians

including the poor.

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 EMPIRICAL REVIEW

Todaro (1992) points out that the high rate of

urban unemployment is as a result of continuous

transfer of economic activities and youths from

rural to urban areas. As elsewhere in the rest of

Africa, unemployment is one of the most pressing

social problems in Nigeria, not only because it is

already substantial but also because it threatens

to be graver in the future. This is, however,

mostly urban unemployment and a large part of the

burden falls on the youth especially those with

some education, and young women. There are several

factors that account for this. The first is

demographic. Not only is the aggregate population

increasing at a fast rate, but also the

Phenomenon not usually observed in the rest of the

world (African Employment Report, 2000).

A second factor pertains to the enormous 111

school enrolment, with a consequent increase in

the number of school leavers seeking jobs. In

times when the employment situation is bleak, new

school leavers, on account of their inexperience,

are the first to suffer. Other factors are policy-

related and they are relevant to the extent that

policies affect the pattern of whatever

development takes place and its capacity to

generate jobs. Thus,

Policies on land tenure, taxation, wages,

education, technology and a host of others have an

important bearing because they either promote or

hamper employment generation. The larger

unemployment problem can be attributed to high

rates of population growth, sluggish economic

growth and the inability of whatever growth takes'

place to generate a commensurate proportion of

jobs and the lack of structural transformation in

the economy. Thus, there are factors at work on

both supply and demand sides of the labour market;

hence, any strategy for solving the unemployment

problems must take due accounts of them. At the

very minimum, this involves strategies to

accelerate the rate of economic growth. However,

it is now well established that growth, while

necessary, is not sufficient to expand employment.

In other words, it has to be a labour – intensive

growth. One also needs to put in place policies

specifically designed to promote in the informal

sector and in the non-farm rural sector as well as

policies for promoting the employment of youth and

women. Also a review of the educational system,

especially with respect to curricula, deserves

serious considerations.

Typically, unemployment arises whenever the supply

of labour exceeds the demand for it at the

prevailing wage rate. Causes of unemployment can

therefore be analyzed from both supply and demand

sides of the labour market. In Nigeria, on the

supply sides, there' is the rapidly growing urban

labour force arising from rural urban migration.

Adebayo (1999), states that rural urban migration

is usually explained in terms of the push-pull

factor which includes the pressure resulting from

man-land ratio, in the rural areas and the

existence of serious underemployment arising from

seasonal climatic changes. The factors are further

strengthened in Nigeria by the lack of

infrastructural facilities, which makes rural life

unattractive. The pull factors include a wide

rural-urban income differential in favour of urban

dwellers and a presumed higher probability of

searching lucrative employment in the cities.

Added to these is the concentration of social

amenities in urban centres. This implies that the

rural are for most of the period neglected in the

allocation of social and economic opportunities.

Another supply-sides factor facing Nigeria is

rapid population growth. Based on the 2006 census,

future projections indicates that the population

could reached 142 million by 2007, given the

annual growth rate of 2.8 percent. It is argued

that the high population growth rate has resulted

in rapid growth of the labour force, which is far

outstripping and supply of jobs.

Hollister and Goldstein (2009) point out that the

effect of the accelerated growth of population on

Nigeria's unemployment problem is multifaceted.

First, it affects the supply side through a high

rapid increase in labour fo rce relative to the

absorptive capacity of the economy. Second, the

increase in the number of children in the

population implies a serious burden on the rest of

the population, as there is a high dependency

ratio. Other supply side factor includes what is

termed inappropriate school curricula and the lack

of employable skills. Several analysis, including

McGraith and King (1995), have argued that in so

far as the formal sector is concerned, the skills

that job seekers possess do not match the needs

and demands of employers in Nigeria. It is argued

that Nigeria's education system, with its liberal

bias, does not just supply the labour market with

graduates and school leavers, but also does not

produce the type of demanded in the formal sector.

According to Manning and Junanka (2009), the

substantial growth on higher education has been

accompanied by increasing difficulties in finding

suitable employment by graduates in a variety of

courses. This shows that there are imbalances

between supply and demand for these different

categories of highly educated manpower. Thus, the

rapid expansion of Nigeria's education system,

first acts directly to increase the supply of

educated manpower above the corresponding demands

for them and consequently contributes to the

problem of urban youth unemployment in Nigeria.

Oni (2006) notes that high unemployment incidence

of secondary school leavers is a reflection of

improper coordination of the educational system.

Lambo (2000) criticizes the government expenditure

policy, in which most of government project

(industries and public utilities) are concentrated

in urban areas at the utter neglect of the rural

area because of its tendency to encourage mass

exodus of rural skilled and unskilled labour from

village into urban centres, thus causing urban

unemployment.

In recent times, the incidence of unemployment in

Nigeria has been cavernous, cutting across all age

groups, educational strata and geographical

entities. One particular feature of the

unemployment problem in Nigeria is that it was

more endemic in -the early 1980's. This is clearly

evident in the National Bureau of ·statistics

(NBS) (2010). For instance, the unemployment rate

rose from 4.3 percent, in 1976 to 6.4 percent in

1980. Although there was some marginal decline

between 1981 and 1986, the rates were relatively

higher than what is obtained in the national

unemployment rate of 3.0 percent. Unemployment

rate declines progressively from 7.0 percent in

1987 to 1.8 percent in 1995 and thereafter

increased gradually to 3.4 percent in 1996. The

rate remained unchanged at 3.2 percent in 1997 and

1998 but fell to 3.0 in 1999. Beginning from 2000,

the unemployment rate in Nigeria registered double

digits, however, the rate declined from 9.1

percent in 2000 to 12.2 percent in 2002, increased

to 14.8 percent in the succeeding year, before

declining by 3.0 percentage points to 11.8 percent

in 2004. However, in 2005 it increased to 11.9

percent and subsequently 16.1 percent in 2010.

The high and rising unemployment rates in the

1980s were as a result of the lull in the economy

during the period. The economic down-turn did not

only discourage new investment but also forced

government to implement stabilization measures,

including restrictions on importation. Given the

high import-dependency of most manufacturing

enterprises, this import restriction forced many

companies to operate below installed capacity,

causing most of them to close down or retrench a

significant proportion of their work force. For

instance, the survey of manufacturing companies

undertaken by the Manufactures Association of

Nigeria (MAN) showed that 61.0 percent of the

companies surveyed were short down for different

periods of not less than three months, while

between 63.0 and 63.9 percent of the disengaged

over 100 workers (CBN, 1993). This development

made job placement for fresh school leavers to be

extremely difficult. In. addition, the government

also placed embargo on employment from September,

1981, although it relaxed in some periods (e.g.

November 1982). This was implemented Paripassu

with the public sector retrenchment.

The structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) adopted

in 1986 had serious implications for the short-run

unemployment problem. Contrary on expectation

rather than greater employment opportunities in

the private sector (especially among the small-

medium enterprises), the unemployment rate rose

from 5.3 percent in 1986 to 7.0 percent in 1987.

This was partly accounted for by the

organizational down-sizing, re-engineering and

rationalization policies which accompanied SAP,

especially in the private sector. This was further

worsened by the continuance of staff retrenchment

and placement of embargo on employment in the

public sector. Besides, the new policy orientation

brought about some structural changes within the

Nigerian labour market. The oil, banking and the

external sectors became the "blue chips" as

against the public and industrial sectors which

used to be the foremost of the labour market prior

to the adoption of SAP in 1986. Consequently, this

development created some structural and frictional

unemployment problems in the country. The

emergency of the structural and frictional

unemployment coupled with lack of job placement of

fresh graduates, compounded the unemployment

situation in the country. As observed by Umo

(1996), an annual average of about 0.15 million

fresh graduates enter the Nigerian labour market,

with only about 10 percent of them getting

employment, this demonstrates the severity of the

problem.

It is evident from CBN, 2006 that unemployment

reduced very significantly from 1987. It fell

consistently from 7.0 percent in 1987 to 3.1

percent in 1991 nudged marginally to 3.4 in 1992,

but declined consistently in the three consecutive

years, recording the lowest rate of 1.8 percent in

1995. In 1996 and 1997, the respective rates of

3.4 and 3.2 percent were registered. The rate

dropped to 3.0 percent in 1999 and thereafter

maintained double digits from 2000, ranging

between 18.1 percent in 2000 and 11.8 percent in

2004. The national unemployment rate in 2009 and

2011 was 12.9 percent and 16.1 percent

respectively. In 2008, the unemployment rate was

12.8 percent. The rise in the unemployment rate

was largely attributed to the increased number of

school graduates with no matching job

opportunities. A freeze on employment in many

public and private sector institutions as well as

the slow disbursement of capital budget by the

federal government is responsible for high

unemployment rate in Nigeria.

It is noteworthy however, that unemployment

statistics in Nigeria have been very contentious,

as some independent estimates have reported higher

figures in all the years. There are several

explanations for the wide gaps between

independently estimated rates and the official

rates. Raheem (2007) and Ohiorhenuan (2008)

explain that only recorded open unemployment is

published by official statistics. Most people who

felt disenchanted with searching for jobs refused

to register, and this leads to gross

underestimation of unemployed. Okigbo (2000) also

points out that the concept of labour force

adopted in the Nigerian labour force statistical

survey, which excluded people that were less than

15 and above 55 years but actively working, is an

important factor of underestimation of

unemployment in the country.

This is further compounded by gross inconsistency

in government documents. For instance, all surveys

prior to 1986, it was raised to 59 years, which

was later raised to 64 in 1997.

As noted earlier, Nigeria's current preoccupation

with university educated reduces economic

opportunities for those who are more oriented

toward work than academe, thus leading to rising

youth unemployment. More often than not the public

perceives students who take to vocational and

technical education as those who lack the ability

to continue with formal academic studies in higher

institutions. But not everyone needs a university

education. Sadly, in Nigeria social recognition

and advancement on workplace depends to a large

extent on the stack of academic degrees one had

acquired. Because of poor public perceptions about

blue-collar jobs the youth are not enthusiastic

about technical and vocational schools in the

society also lack qualified teachers and

functional workshops and equipment for hands on

application. Youth unemployment has been

skyrocketing in Nigeria, because they lack the

skins employers needs as well as for self-

employment. The federal government recently

acknowledged that about 80 percent of Nigeria's

youth is unemployed and 10 percent underemployed

(Daily Trust, November 26, 2008) others have urged

the youth to become "entrepreneurs" and reject

"social vices" (Thisday, March 17, 2009). At some

point the .former minister of Education, Dr. Sam

Egwu, has expressed concern about the poor quality

of graduates from the nation's educational

institutions. The political leaders are good at

cataloguing the revisions for Nigeria's problems

and predicting the future without implementing

reasoned policies to create a better future.

However as the management guru, Peter Dwcker, has

observed; if you want to predict the future,

create it" (as cited in Wilson and Blumenthal,

2008:1). It is good enough to implore the youth to

become productive citizens and "entrepreneurs" or

to reject "social vices" without providing them

with skills and resources.

One major aspect of development is provision of

employment opportunities for citizenry. Thus, the

existence of adequate and appropriate employment

is a signal on how healthy an economy is. However,

unemployment is a persistent and growing problem

In Nigeria. The situation was complicated in the

past by prolonged periods of economic crises. To

examine the contemporary condition of unemployment

in Nigeria, we make use of various secondary data

that are available from the

National Buteau of Statistics 2008 and the

Nigerian statistical fact sheet on economic and

social development.

On the current trend and nature of employment

problems, we provided some quantitative evidence

regarding the magnitude of the unemployment

situation in Nigeria. Based on (National Bureau of

Statistics 1990-2007) shows unemployment rate

figures fluctuated in down ward direction from 6.1

percent to 1.9 percent. However, since 1996,

employment rate increased consistently; rising

from 8 percent to a peak of 18 percent in 2005.

This provides an evidence of sub-optimal

utilization of human resources in spite of the

serious economic crisis, as well as the level of

poverty consequent, perhaps, on the policy

inconsistency, macroeconomic mismanagement and the

lack of direction of past rulers.

One important source of worry regarding the

figures above is the sudden dump in unemployment

figures between 1998 and period 1999 to 2009.

While the reported ·unemployment rate for 1985was

3.5 percent, the figure for the following year

skyrocketed to 17.5 percent. One possible

explanation is the fact that 1999 was the

beginning of the third democratic government; so

perhaps the previous military administration had

suppressed the true unemployment situation as a

face-saving strategy. However, it is important to

note that the continuous decline in the rate from

17.5 percent in 1999 to 12 percent in 2008

reflects the impact of the positive economic

transformation across all sectors of the Nigerian

economy through the various economic reforms

programmes of the government, as entrenched in

NEEDS's Policy, document. However, the current

unemployment rate is still higher than the sub-

Saharan Africa's average of 9.5 percent.

On the rural and urban dichotomy of the rate, the

rural unemployment rate trend has been

consistently lower than the urban rate between

1991 and 1995.

However, from 1999, this trend was reversed such

that rural unemployment rate become consistently

higher (with the exception of 2003) than the urban

rate. One wonders why this is the case for

Nigeria, where, as in other developing nations,

open unemployment is an urban phenomenon and where

the informal farm and non-farm activities are so

prevalent that they provide (underemployment)

opportunities for a lot of people, even at a

miserable income level (National Bureau of

Statistics 2005).

The figures also reveals that urban unemployment

rate were stable at 8 to 10 percent from 1991-

1995; declined to 4 -6 percent between 1990 to 17

percent in 2003, and then sharply declined to 10.1

percent in 2005. The rural rate followed the urban

pattern from 1991 to 1998; rose sharply in 1999

and, since then, stated a gradual decline which

culminated in 12.6 percent in 2005. This shows

that labour underutilization is a common

phenomenon, especially in rural areas.

Another form of labour underutilization in Nigeria

is underemployment. This is from available data

for underemployment in both rural and urban areas

of Nigeria for 1992 and 1998 for which data were

available from National Bureau of statistics (NBS)

(June 2003). A careful study of the data shows

that the underemployment rate of each year in the

rural areas for exceeds that in urban areas. In

most of the years, specifically 1992, 1996 and

1997, the average rural underemployment rates

doubled those of urban averages. The trend from

1992 to 1998 shows that underemployment problems

is a significant problem in Nigeria.

Underutilization normally assumes the form of

disguised employment, which is very difficult to

measure.

In addition, a breakdown of unemployment rates by

states, age, and educational attainment is

presented to enable us to appreciate the specific

problems of the labour market. The state-wide

picture of the unemployment problem captured by

NBS (2008) shows that there were significant

quantitative differences of unemployment rates

from one state to the other. Specifically, the

figure for Niger (0.2), Osun (1.9), Ogun (2.5),

Plateau (2 .8), Kwara (2.9), Taraba (3.4), Sokoto

(4. 1) and

Delta (4.5) indicates relatively low rates of

unemployment. These rates range between 0.2 and

4.5 percent. Notable for high unemployment the

states are Bauchi (29.7), Enugu (27.4), Katsina

(23.8), Adamawa (21.4), Kebbi (19.9), Kano (19.0)

Jigawa (19.0), Benue (18 .6), lmo (16.5), Akwa-

Ibom (14.4), Kaduna (12.1) and Cross River (11.1).

These figures indicates that the problems is

significant and in different proportion over the

states. By implication, the significant different

in the rates for 2008 across states shows that

Nigeria is not a completely national labour market

geographically. If the markets are properly

integrated, people are expected to move from high

unemployment rate areas to low unemployment rate

areas. The lack of uniformity in unemployment rate

among states cannot be connected with the

existence of political, religious, cultural and

tribal barriers inhibiting mobility in Nigeria.

This phenomenon has been described in the

literature as "regional restrictiveness" (Oladeji

2000). Non-accessibility to access to information

also contributes to manpower immobility across

states. Increased access to information is

expected to improve manpower mobility across

states and reduce the quantitative difference in

unemployment rates across states.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS 2008) shows

the indices of unemployment by age. The results

show that a proportion of the unemployed are

within the younger age groups (between 15 and 24).

The proportion of unemployed youth to other age

groups was 73.8 percent in 1986. It declines to

58.4 percent in 1999.

The rates for 2003 and 2004 were captured in a

different way in the statistical fact sheets, as

it was in the form of unemployment rate in each

age group, as against the proportional pattern of

the rates. In this case the prevalence of

unemployment among the 15-24 age groups was 14.1

percent in 2003 and increased to 28.9 percent in

2004. In the 25-44 age groups, the rate of

unemployment was 10.8 percent in 2003 and 11.4 in

2004. For 45-59 age groups, the rate was 7.8

percent in 2003; it declined to 7.7 in 2004. By

and large, the age decomposition indicates that

the employment problem is still more of a youth

phenomenon.

National bureau of Statistics (NBS 2005) shows

that educational attainment, 1991 and 1999

unemployment incidence fall more on secondary

school leavers. However, the statistical news of

March 2005 presented a totally different

unemployment distribution by educational

attainment for 2004 and 2005. The figures shows

that over 50 percent of the unemployed in Nigeria

belong to the "no-schooling" group, while the

proportion of secondary school leavers was 24.3

and 25.3 percent respectively for years 2004 and

2005.

When the gender dimension of the rate was

considered for 2004 and 2005 the unemployment rate

became increasingly higher for the female labour

force. To be specific the rate was 11.2 percent

against the 10.6 for the male in 2004 while in

2005, the rate for males was 10.4 percent and that

for the female was 14.6 percent. This point to the

need for more calculated efforts at promoting

gender equality and women empowerment.

3.1 EMPIRICAL DATA ANALYSIS

YEAR

POVERTYRATEPVR(%)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (UNR) (%)

GOVERNMENT EXPENDITUREON EDUCATION(GEE) (N'MILLION)

GROSS CAPITAL FORMATION(GCF) (N'MILLION)

1990 27.00 3.00 2734.50 40.621.311991 28.00 2.70 1545.40 45,390.231992 30.00 3.00 675.40 71,109.161993 32.00 3.20 10445.38 97,365.511994 32.90 2.80 9788.44 105,867.991995 29.90 1.60 13053.80 142,271.241996 32.90 2.40 14711.00 204,433.711997 28.90 2.80 18661.54 243,346.821998 29.80 3.10 26382.49 242,770.341999 34.00 19.60 52127.25 232,240.032000 43.00 19.80 81299.24 331,678.452001 45.00 15.10 59742.60 372,819.542002 46.00 13.30 89745.88 500,423,552003 39.00 13.80 79462.35 866,703.812004 47.90 12.10 98074,65 864000.252005 56.00 12.60 110235.86 805,582.422006 54.00 12.80 123086.36 1,547,995.452007 58.00 13.50 155822.90 1,936,610,772008 60.00 14.50 212800.40 2,052,423.572009 6l.00 15.00 180500.00 3,049,790.982010 63.30 16.00 258700.10 4 ,009,728.832011 65.00 17.00 273457.51 4,621,512.312012 69.00 20.00 284122.67 5,238,680.40

Sources: (i) Central Bank of Nigeria annual statistical Bulletin (2012).

(ii) National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Publications (2012).

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Summary of the findings

The study empirically assessed the relationship

between poverty and unemployment in Nigeria from

1990 and 2012. Using Empirical data Analysis from

the Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of

Statistics as the method of estimation, findings

from the study revealed that unemployment rate

positively and insignificantly impacted on poverty

rate. Government expenditure on education also had

a positive impact on poverty rate but unlike

unemployment rate, the impact of government

expenditure on education on poverty rate was

statistically significant. The positive

relationship found between government expenditure

on education and poverty rate contradicted the

expectation. It therefore suggests that government

expenditure on education is poverty inducing

instead of poverty retarding. Findings also show

that gross capital formation had a negative and

insignificant impact on poverty rate in Nigeria

during the period of investigation.

4.2 Conclusion

The study had shown that there exists the problem

of poverty and unemployment in Nigeria using raw

data from the Central Bank of Nigeria and National

Bureau of Statistics as the method of estimation,

findings from 1990 to 2012, discovered that in

Nigeria poverty is positively related to

unemployment and government expenditure on

education, and negatively related to government's

gross capital formation. Also, there exists causal

relationship between poverty and unemployment in

Nigeria.

It is assumed that unemployment breeds poverty.

When people are unemployed, they don't earn income

and are bound to be deprived of providing for

themselves and their family the basic necessities

of life thus higher rates of unemployment may lead

to higher levels of poverty. The prevailing

situation of high rates of poverty and

unemployment therefore calls for an immediate

policy effort to fine-tune the economy in the

direction of a reduced poverty and inequality

levels to revamp and bolster the economy via

generating employment, investing in human

development and skill acquisition· and providing a

favourable environment for investment to thrive.

4.3 Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the following

recommendations are made:

It has been ascertained that there is a strong

link between poverty and unemployment such that

creating employment will certainly reduce the

level of poverty.

Government should provide the necessary

infrastructures needed to lay a solid foundation

for investment to thrive, this can be done by not

only increasing its capital expenditure but

investing it in projects which will generate more

externalities than it will consume like energy and

transportation. In Nigeria it is also worthy to

mention that such allocations/contracts should be

carefully monitored to reduce corrupt practices

which bedevils the public sector.

Apart from providing the infrastructures

government also needs to make monetary and fiscal

policies that would make investing in Nigeria

attractive, this would also encourage the private

sector especially foreigners to invest thereby

creating more employment opportunities.

Human investment is a priority in a populous

country like ours; education should be tailored

towards the acquisition of skills and technology

as relevant and required to meet the needs of

modern industries and companies. Skill

acquisition, education and training especially

technologically is required for human development

and provides the gate way for reducing the

probability of been or remaining poor. An

educational system which is well funded and

structured can lead to the removal of

beneficiaries from the grip of poverty, ignorance

and disease. If this is to be achieved, then there

is the need to re-structure the existing too

formal and rigid curricular, the introduction of

entrepreneurship skills into the curriculum of

higher institutions is to be applauded but more

still needs to be done especially in terms of

acquiring practical skills and hands on training.

Poverty alleviation programmes and employment

programme targeted at the youths is important and

efforts should be made to ensure that they are

indeed the beneficiaries.

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