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Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in Nigeria

Eradicating rural poverty in Nigeria

The Nigerian Government's National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) outlines policies and strategies designed to promote economic growth in the country. The Seven-Point Agenda for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation complements and adds to the national strategy. The NEEDS, a federal strategy, is complemented by an equivalent at the state level, the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS), and by a local equivalent, the Local Government Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS). The government’s newly developed Commercial Agriculture Development Programme aims to strengthen food security, increase employment opportunities and boost agriculture as an engine for broad-based economic growth in the country. IFAD’s support to the new programme will focus on smallholder farmers and community-based poverty reduction.

The main goal of the NEEDS is the reduction of poverty. The government is particularly concerned about worsening rural poverty, rising unemployment rates among young people and the marginalization of women.

New policies, legislation and development programmes designed to reduce poverty address its principal causes: weak governance, social conflict, limited technological innovations that hinder productivity, environmental degradation that aggravates poverty by reducing the natural resource base, and the debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The government recognizes the importance of empowering people to design and manage their own development activities. The current strategy for the protection of poor rural people includes efforts to strengthen:

• access to credit and land
• participation in decision-making
• access to agricultural extension services
• access to improved seeds and planting materials, farm inputs and tools
• traditional thrift, savings and insurance schemes

All current policy interventions include a focus on fully integrating women into the economic mainstream. Education and training opportunities aim to enable them to play a full role in the economic, social, political and cultural life of the country. There is a particular emphasis on promoting rural women’s secure access to land, agricultural water and financial services.

Additional priorities for the government in rural areas include:

• boosting agricultural productivity
• promoting off-farm rural enterprises
• improving water and electricity supplies, communications, roads, schools and health facilities

The government is committed to strengthening rural financial services, including improved access to credit, as a key to reducing poverty. The consolidation of commercial banks, coupled with the recently launched microfinance policy, has created a strong financial sector. Some 25 commercial banks have branch networks across the country. They can provide all types of financial services, including agricultural finance.
 

Source: IFAD