List of Poverty Alleviation Programmes In Nigeria

Posted on Author Olaide Waheed

Nigeria is one of the countries in West Africa known to have a high level of the poverty rate. However, different Government administrations of the country have been known to always put in place some programs aimed at reducing the poverty rate through different poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria.

These programs are aimed at increasing proper access to food, monetary help, and basic other necessities to the households and families known to belong to the poverty strata. But what are these programs? Check some of the popular poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria out below; 

List of Poverty Alleviation Programmes In Nigeria

  • The Poverty Alleviation Programme

The poverty Alleviation Program was a temporary program that was initiated in the year 2000. The main aim of the program was to reduce the increasing rate of unemployment and crimes among the Youths especially. In order to achieve the goals of the program, there was the creation of jobs via the public work scheme. The program is known for providing jobs for over 200,000 idle hands in the country. However, the program was replaced in the subsequent year due to certain constitutional reasons.

  • The National Poverty Eradication Programme

This was implemented in the year 2001 by the Nigerian Government with the aim of reducing poverty in the country. This was created to replace the Poverty Alleviation Programme of 2000. Like other programs, it was aimed towards reducing absolute poverty in the country. The program is seen to be a major improvement to the previous poverty alleviation programs of the country and it has been known to trained over 130,000 youths and engaged over 200,000 people.

  • Agricultural Development Programme

The Agricultural Development Programme is a poverty alleviation programme in Nigeria, a government initiative known to be under each Ministry of Agriculture of each of the 36 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory. The aim of the program is to formulate and implement programmes that are related to agriculture as well as providing extension services to farmers that are located both in the rural and urban areas thereby reducing the poverty rate in the country. 

  • The Vocational Skills Development Programmes

The vocational skills development programmes are one of the one programmes aimed at increasing job creations in the country. The program is concerned with bequeathing productive, functional, and marketable skills to the unemployed portion of the population. The program has been known to be a novel approach in combating massive unemployment in the country over the past years.

  • The Special Public Works Programmes

Another program known to help reduce the unemployment rate in Nigeria is the Special Public Works Programme. The programme helps to identify the numerous untapped opportunities found in the public workspace via the organization of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled individuals to help carry out utility, environmental, infrastructural development, and sanitation works. Hence, the program fights poverty by linking graduates to willing employers of labour for skills upgrading during which permanent employment may be considered.

  • The Small Scale Enterprises Programmes

The small scale enterprise program is another poverty alleviation programme in Nigeria, geared towards the eradication of poverty in Nigeria. The program was designed to help inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, and self-reliance in the mind of unemployed Nigerian Graduates and other interested individuals so as to assist them in setting up their own businesses thereby creating employment for them and many other Nigerians.

  • Universal Basic Education Programme

The Universal Basic Education Programme is one of the strategies employed by the Government to tackle the poverty rate via the educational sector. Launched in the year 1999, the program is aimed at providing free primary and secondary education for all.

The UBE program is known as a survivor program as there have been many attempts in improving the educational system of the country, all to no avail. The main beneficiaries of the programs have been children aged 3-5 years for the Early Children Care and Development Education, Children aged 6-11 years for primary school education, and children aged 12-14 years and above for junior secondary school education.  

  • Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES)

Another initiative aimed at reducing the poverty rate in Nigeria is the Youth Empowerment Scheme. As a Public-Private Partnership initiative, the scheme is to be driven by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Youth and Students Affairs.

In other words, the program is aimed at providing solutions to the many challenges facing Nigerian Youths most of which include unemployment; crime waves, etc through the execution of direct empowerment initiatives. Some of the goals of the scheme include fighting and reducing unemployment among Nigerian Youths by creating at least 774,000 empowerment opportunities, to create wealth among the growing youth population and many others. 

  • N-Power

The N-Power is an initiative of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, is also a poverty alleviation programme aimed to massively address the issue of lack of employment among the Nigerian youths. The program was initiated in 2016 and it was also aimed at increasing social development in the country. The program was actually created as a subunit of the National Social Investment Program in order to provide a structure for large scale and relevant work skills acquisition that allows for each participant to learn and practice most of the required skills to work. 

Related:

Closing:

The Government of Nigeria has been fighting poverty over the past decades and even though there has not been a significant reduction in the poverty rate, it is projected that in the coming years, the poverty rate will be drastically reduced in the country. It should be noted that there are numerous poverty alleviation programs put in place by the Government, however, the most important ones have been highlighted above.