The department of political science,
Faculty of social sciences
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of a bachelor of science (B. sc.) degree in political science.
TOPIC:
THE EFFICACY OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES IN
DEPENDENT SOCIETIES: A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME
(NAPAP) IN EBONYI STATE
APPROVAL PAGE
This
is to certify that this project work has been read and approved in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc)
Degree in political Science
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my
parents; for their
wonderful assistance and support during my stay in school to God be the glory.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
At a time like this when I have to
pause ponder, and take a trip done the memory lane of life, and all it took to
get this far, I am inclined to declare that this is a clear manifestation of
selfless moral, academic and financial support by some distinguished
personalities.
ABSTRACT
The
eradication of poverty has been the major concern of every government in Nigeria,
various administration (both military and civilian) in the past and at present
have initiated poverty Alleviation programme, yet the rate of poverty in Nigeria has
been on the increase. Based on the increased rate of poverty in Nigeria today,
the study was intended to determine the “Efficacy of poverty Alleviation programmes
in dependent societies, having the National poverty eradication programme
(NAPEP) in Ebonyi
State” as a case study.
The study aimed at assessing the extent at which the programme have alleviated
poverty in Ebonyi State, to determine the level at which job opportunities have
been made available through the programme, to determine the extent at which the
programme have provided social amenities as well as the problems militating
against the effectiveness of the programme in Ebonyi State. Also, a theoretical
framework-Dependency theory was applied to authenticate and give the work a
sound footing. Consequently, the method used for data collection of the study
were mainly from primary source (personal/oral interview and questionnaire) and
secondary source (books, journals etc). The primary data which was principally
used came from, a 12 question item questionnaire distributed to 83 respondents
in Ebonyi State which formed the sample size. The
data collected were systematically analysed using simple percentage method. The
cluster/Area sampling technique was used in selecting members of the sample in
groups. The simple random sampling was also used to select the sample from the
identified clusters. The major findings showed that politicization, Alienation of
the masses in the initiation and implementation of the programme are some of
the causes of the inefficiency of the programmes. We recommended among other
things that the beneficiaries of poverty Alleviation programme be incorporated
in the initiation and implementation exercise. The managers of poverty
Alleviation programmes should be appointed based on credibility and merit. And
micro credit and micro finance scheme at low interest rates should be
prioritized, and government should invest in the training of the
less-privileged in skills for more effective productivity.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
From independence till date,
successive governments in Nigeria
have repeatedly adopted different policies and programmes virtually in every
aspects of national life.
Such programmes include those
intended to stimulate self-sufficiency in food production and provide necessary
infrastructures to regulate economic activities. Others are aimed at reducing
unemployment and the improvement of the living condition of the poor masses in
an effort to create poverty alleviation in the nation.
Here, substantial efforts by most
civilian governments have been intensified over the years targeted at solving
identifiable problem of poverty and unemployment in the country. These efforts
became more pronounced recently because the Nigerian nation has became
bedeviled by situations where many youths graduate from school in geometrical
proportion without commensurate employment them.
As a result of these, the Nigerian
government, at both the state and federal levels have been making effort at
reducing or eradicating poverty by establishing series of programmes which
include:
ü National Accelerated Food Production (NAFP) in the
year 1972,
ü Operation Feed the National (OFN) in 1976.
ü The Green Revolution (GR) in 1980
ü Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986.
ü National Directorate for employment (NDE) in 1986.
ü Better Life Programme/family support programmes
(BLP/FSP).
ü The Family Economic Advancement programmes (FEAP) in
1997. etc. (Sources: Central Bank of
Nigeria and World Bank (1999); Nigerian Development Projects; Poverty
Assessment and Alleviation Study, march, 8).
The success of these programmes in
poverty reduction remains an issue of argument. This is based on the premise
that previous and subsequent programmes designed towards alleviating poverty by
various regimes, have neither yielded a positive result nor became successful.
On this note, the federal government introduced Poverty Alleviation programme (PAP),
during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, which in the course of its development
and operation was changed to National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in
the year 2000.
These were laudable government
programmes meant to bring succour and smiles to the Nigeria poor masses, but never made
any headway owing to formulation/implementation differentia.
It
is in recognition of the problems that militate against effective execution
(implementation) of Poverty Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria, that
the researcher have decided to embark on this study. “The efficiency of Poverty
Alleviation programmes in dependent
societies”, using Ebonyi State NAPEP as a case study.
1.2 Statement of the problem
We
have established in our previous section that, successive governments in Nigeria had
embarked on one Poverty Alleviation programme or the other in their times to
provide panacea to devolvement problem that face them. It therefore seems to
the researcher, that there arises some exigencies that necessitate the lapses
inherent in implementing various poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria. This
gaps or short comings between formulated Poverty Alleviation Programmes and its
faithful implementation is technically referred to as “formulation/implementation
differentia”.
It is in recognition of these ugly
trends in the formulation and implementation of poverty alleviation in Nigeria, that
the following principal research questions arise:
i.
To what extent
have the programme reduced poverty in Ebonyi State
by providing job opportunities?
ii.
To what extent
have the programme provided social amenities in Ebonyi State?
iii.
To what extent
have the programmes improved the standard of living the poor masses in Ebonyi State?
iv.
Are the
programmes meant for the poor masses in Ebonyi State.
v.
What are the
factors militating against the proper implementation of the programme?
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The general objective of this study
is to assess the effectiveness and the veracity of Poverty Alleviation
Programmes (PAP) in Ebonyi
State using NAPEP as a
case-study.
However, this study has its specific
objectives as follows:
i.
To assess how far
the programme has reduced poverty in Ebonyi
State.
ii.
To determine the
extent at which the programme has provided infrastructural facilities in Ebonyi State.
iii.
To evaluate the
extent at which the programme has affected the poor masses of Ebonyi State.
iv.
To find out
whether the programme is meant for the poor masses in Ebonyi State.
v.
To determine the
problems militating against the proper implementation of the programme in Ebonyi State.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study of Poverty Alleviation
programmes in Ebonyi
State will be very useful
to policy makers, politicians, scholars, students, researchers and Nigerians in
general. this is because the work will expose the extent to which Poverty
Alleviation Programmes in Ebonyi
State have affected the
lives of the poor in the society.
The work will also be beneficial to
the rural poor in a special way. Here, its findings help to enlighten the poor
masses of the rural areas on the efforts and programmes of government at
alleviating their development problems.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This research work focuses on
ascertaining the efficiency of Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAP) in
dependent societies, with special emphasis on NAPEP in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
It’s
major focus is to assess how far these programmes have affected the lives of
the poor masses in Ebonyi
State.
The researcher was faced with a lot
of limitations in the course of gathering material for the work.
The greatest limitation to this
work, was the refusal of relevant authorities to make materials needed
available to the researcher.
The
reason being that most of the materials asked for were said to be classified
documents and hence not open to public security.
This
constraint however, was over-coned through a huge cost to the researcher who
employed useful means to obtain alternative documents that yielded the same
data that were refered to as classified documents.
Other limitations encountered by the
researcher was financial in capacitating as a result of relative lack of money
at the appropriate time to facilitate the work.
Again, the researcher had to combine
other academic works with the researcher, so as to meet up with the time frame
for the completion of the research.
The
combination of all these constraints was not easy for the researcher but in the
end, the researcher was able to make a headway.
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is generally understood
to be an assumed answer to a research question. In the words of Anikpo
(1986:48), it is a tentative answer to problem; a guide and prelude to the
final solution.
In view of the above, the following
hypothesis would act as our guide.
i.
Poverty Alleviation
Programmes in Nigeria
have not reduced the rate of poverty in Ebonyi State.
ii.
Poverty
Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria
have reduced the rate of poverty in Ebonyi
State.
iii.
Poverty
Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria
have not provided social amenities in Ebonyi State.
iv.
Poverty
Alleviation Programmes in Nigeria
have provided social amenities in Ebonyi
State.
1.7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theory used to explain this work
is based on dependency theory. Dependency theory first emerged in the 1950’s
advocated by Raul PREBISCH (1901-1986), an Argentine economists known for his
contribution to structuralist economics. His hypothesis formed the basis of
economic dependency theory.
Through
his research findings, he found out that the wealth of poor nations tended to
decrease when the wealth of rich nations increased.
However, dependency theory states
that the poverty of the countries in the periphery is not because they are not
integrated into the world system or not fully integrated as is often required
by right wing development they are integrated into the system.
Nevertheless, the relevance of this
theory to this work is to unveil the issue of poverty in dependent states as
having been exacerbated by virtue of our dependent nature and how we (dependent
states) were enmeshed into the world system.
This theory enables the researcher
to understand the dynamic relations which exist between dominant and dependent
states in which their interactions tend to not only reinforce but also
intensify the unequal patterns.
The theory enables the researcher to
note that Dependency is the root-cause of poverty among the dependent states.
This tries to explains that until the relationship between the dominant and
dependent states in the world system is addressed, every effort towards
development of the dependent states becomes a mirage.
Theotonio Dos Santos, in his work
“the structure of Dependency,” gave a historical dimension of the Dependency
relationship by defining Dependency as…. “ an historical condition which shapes
a certain structure of the world economy such that it favours some countries to
the detriment of others and limits the development possibilities of the
subordinate economics ….. a situation in which the economy of a certain group of countries is conditioned
by the development and expansion of another economy, to which their own is
subjected”.
Osvldo Sunkel, in his work “National
Development Policy and External Dependency in Latin America,” Conceived
Dependency as “an explanation of the economic development of a state in terms
of the external influence ……. Political, economic, and cultural…..on national
development policies”.
In start, dependency theory attempts
to explain the present underdeveloped state of many nations in the world by
examining the patterns of interactions among nations and by arguing that
inequality among nations is an intrinsic part of those interactions.
Moreso, there are still points of
serious disagreements among the various strains of dependency theorists such as
Raul Prebisch (liberal reformer), Andre Gunder Frank (the Marxist), Paul A.
Barany Dos. Santos.
I, Fernado herique Cardoso and Immanuel Wallerstein, etc.
This
portrays that there is no one unified theory of dependency, as most dependency
theorists have some core propositions which seem to underlie their analyses.
1.8 OPERATIONALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS
POVERTY: This is the inability of one to have the basic
necessities of life. That is, basically not having enough food to eat, a high
rate of infant mortality, low life expectancy, low educational opportunities,
poor water, unemployment; inadequate healthcare and unfit housing. (Aluko,
1975).
ALLEVIATION: In simple terms, it means to make something less
severe: (Oxford
dictionary, 2000).
PROGRAMME: It is a plan of things that will be done or included
in the development of something (oxford dictionary 2000). A programme is a set
of decisions or rules designed to implement a particular policy.
DEPENDENT: This is a situation where by a particular economy services
on the primary of another economy, for its development and livelihood.
FORMULATION/IMPLEMENTATION DIFFERENTIAL
This refers to the gap that arises
as a result of poor policy implementation. Most often, especially in the third
world countries, policies are brilliantly formulated, but poorly executed. This
breeds gap as policies fail to achieve the goals of their
designers/initiators.