ISSN 1027-0353
African Journal of Political Science ISSN 3461-2165 Vol. 4 (2), pp. 001-008, February, 2010. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The privatized state and mass poverty in Nigeria: The factor of economic development programmes since 1980s
Chukwuemeka Malachy Eze
Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +2348038711951, +2348084579242.
Accepted 16 July, 2009
Abstract
The Nigeria state has adopted many development options since 1960. In-built in these options are numerous poverty alleviation programmes aimed at reducing and or eradicating poverty within a given time frame. It is paradoxical that while these programmes are on course, poverty level grows geometrically. This paper explores the phenomenon with a view to establish the primary factor responsible for it and to establish whether there is a correlation between the poverty alleviation programmes and the increasing level of poverty. Using the pluralist political economy framework, the paper discovered that the privatized character of the Nigerian state is the primary factor responsible for the increasing level of poverty in Nigeria. There is a correlation between the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes and the increasing level of mass poverty in Nigeria. It therefore recommends sovereign majority rule and the abrogation of federal character principle as panacea for mass poverty in Nigeria.
Key words: Mass poverty, Nigerian State, economy framework, poverty alleviation programme.