BB - Reducing Poverty for Sustainable Community Development and Growth

Building Bridges On JayFM 101.9

Poverty has various dimensions and impact on development and our community. This affect the community in many ways among which include, increase in crime rate, insecurity, youth restiveness among numerous ills that bedevil communal unity and development. While the fact remains that a key part of government roles and responsibility in any context is job creation, economic stabilization and other employment stimulating factors whereby citizens can latch on to improve their lives and livelihood. The United Nations in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pegged reduction of extreme poverty by 2030 as its number one goal. While the goal seems ambitious, many have doubted its feasibility. Consequently, 9 years to Vision 2030, the poverty rate in Nigeria keeps increasing with its attendant negative consequences across communities. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) captured Human Development Dimensions of poverty in Nigeria to include; Health, Education, Housing conditions among others.

Some recent statistics have designated Nigeria as “poverty capital” of the world while the government have refuted this on many grounds. Statistics from Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) states that 40.1% of Nigerians live below the poverty line of 1 dollar per day. This means that over 82.9 Nigerians are considered poor by national standards. This is tied to related factors such as surging population, Education level and economic condition among others. While these may seem to be figures or percentages, how do they define/affect the ordinary Nigerian? What are the effects of poverty on our communities? What are the Metrics for determining poverty level? How reliable are these metrics vs. the realities across communities? How effective are poverty alleviation programmes of the government? what has been the effect of these poverty alleviation programmes and policies on human development across communities? what are the setbacks and way forward? These will form the basis of our discussion with Mr. Ben Chikan, a Development practitioner as well as social and economic justice advocate today.