Failure of Poverty Alleviation Schemes and Task for Minister

Over the years, there have been several poverty intervention schemes in Nigeria that have failed to address the rising poverty statistics in the country.

Development Diaries reports that Nigeria’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu has announced another plan of her ministry to pull 50 million Nigerians out of poverty in 42 months.

The announcement by the minister is not new, but the question remains: how? How does the government plan to pull 50 million Nigerians out of poverty?

Even though the previous government of President Muhammadu Buhari spent over N3.5 trillion, the majority of the government’s social intervention programmes did not have the necessary impact of helping a large number of Nigerians escape poverty.

A few of the National Social Intervention Programmes (NSIP) include Home Grown School Feeding Programmes (GSFP), Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), N-Power, National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSCO), and the National Cash Transfer Programme (N-CTP) otherwise called ‘Trader Moni’.

Unfortunately, 133 million people were left in multidimensional poverty by the administration, demonstrating the failure of his policies and intervention programmes.

One major issue faced by poverty intervention programmes is the prevalence of corruption within the administrative and implementation processes.

Corruption can manifest at various levels, from embezzlement of funds meant for poverty alleviation to nepotism in the selection of beneficiaries. This mismanagement diverts resources away from those who need them most, perpetuating a cycle of poverty rather than breaking it.

Furthermore, concerns have been expressed regarding the social safety register for Nigeria’s intervention projects, and questions have been raised over how the registration is carried out in various geographical zones.

Also, poor data gathering and implementation of policies are key reasons poverty alleviation programmes fail in Nigeria.

To this end, Minister Edu has quite a few questions to answer regarding her announcement.  How does the government plan to pull 50 million Nigerians out of poverty? Do they plan to give them grinding machines to grind pepper?

Since the previous government failed to address these issues, what would the ministry be doing differently? What are the plans? How sustainable are they, if they have any plans?

It can be boring listening to the same song over and over again. That’s what the government is doing. Where there are no proper plans or strategies in place, nothing different will be achieved.

Development Diaries calls on the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs to adopt a comprehensive and adaptable approach that addresses the specific challenges of each region, coupled with stringent measures to combat corruption and enhance accountability, which is crucial for the success of poverty intervention initiatives in Nigeria.

Photo source: Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs

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