POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Poverty is a universal phenomenon found in all climes and times; however, its magnitude differs. It is found to be high in most underdeveloped nations for which Nigeria is one. Poverty is a common phenomenon in Nigeria's Fourth Republic. There are so many reasons given for the rate high rate of poverty in Nigeria. In 2018, Nigeria was tagged as the having the highest number of people living under the United Nations benchmark of $1.9 per day despite the return to democracy in 1999. Democracy is a government that serves the interest of the majority of the people and Nigeria since 1999 have embarked on various programmes to reduce poverty in the land. This paper using the systems theory examined the various poverty alleviation strategies of the government of Presidents Obasanjo, Yar'adua, Goodluck and Buhari. The paper employed qualitative method where data were sourced secondarily and content analysis was adopted. The paper found out the various governments have different programmes all aimed at alleviating poverty in the country but the rate of poverty in the country is on the increase. The paper concludes that the poverty alleviation strategies of the various governments have failed to address the perennial challenge of poverty in the country which has manifested in different kinds of ills in the country ranging from hunger, starvation, illiteracy and insecurity. This is because rather than differences in strategies what has been different are appellations. The study recommends for a radical breakaway from the practices of repackaging similar strategies with the view to alleviating poverty.