Analysis of Factors Militating Against the Policies and Strategies in Combating Poverty and Unemployment in Nigeria

Abstract

Available evidence indicates that the incidence of poverty has continued to rise in Nigeria despite several anti-poor programmes initiated by different levels of government. The Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey (HNLSS) of 2009/2010, conducted by the NBS reveals that measures, efforts and programmes put in place by various levels of government to alleviate poverty have remained unsatisfactory. For instance, relative and absolute poverty rates increased from 54.4% and 54.7% in 2004 to 69.0% and 60.9% in 2010; respectively. This implies that the population in relative poverty grew by a compound annual growth rate of 8.56%, above the average growth rate of 7.2% per annum since 2004 the (NBS, in NPC, 2011). The national poverty level also increased from 54.4 in 2004 to 69 in 2010, while the population of people in poverty increased from 68.7 million in 2004 to 112.47 million in 2010, indicating further that the economy must increase above 8.56% per annum for economic growth to trickle down to alleviate poverty to an acceptable level (NBS, in NPC, 2011). The recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics puts Nigeria’s poverty rate at 99.284 million or 60.9 per cent. The highlight of the report shows that the North West and the North East, with 77.7 per cent and 76.3 per cent respectively, had the highest poverty rates in the country in 2010 (NBS, 2013).