10.032016

Micro-credit as a strategy for poverty alleviation among women entrepreneurs in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

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All over the world, poor people are routinely excluded from the formal finance system, ranging from full exclusion in developing countries, to partial exclusion even in developed countries. This fact contributes to making poverty a major development challenge, with one often touted solution being that of providing access to micro-loans. Research has continued to report mixed findings on the effects of microfinance factors on poverty alleviation. However, the increased involvement of women entrepreneurs in the major markets in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, in the activities of microfinance banks, NGOs, associations, cooperatives, rotating savings groups, self-help groups, and savings mobilisation groups (or adashi) suggests that further investigations on the relationship between microfinance factors and poverty alleviation should be conducted.

 

That is the aim of this study, which was carried out to identify and assess the relationship between microcredit, and self-employment, education, training and skills acquisition, and economic empowerment in a Nigerian context. It begins by contextualising the needs and challenges of women entrepreneurs, and outlining the microfinance environment. Next, the methodology of the study is explained, which includes the adoption of a survey-based research design, a systematic sampling technique to select the elements that completed the research questionnaire, and a regression statistical method, employed to analyse the data collected from the 343 selected respondents of women entrepreneurs.

 

The null hypotheses tested were that micro-credit: has no significant effect on the self-employment of women entrepreneurs; is not positively related to the education, training and skills acquisition of women entrepreneurs; and has no significant positive effect on the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs. Through literature review, the authors define and discuss the nature of micro-credit, and how it relates to women entrepreneurs, poverty and poverty alleviation, self-employment, and education, training and skills, and economic...

10.032016

Inequality, poverty among Nigeria women and youth and the challenges of inclusive growth in post-2015 Millenium Development Goals

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Economic growth is the primary driver of poverty reduction, yet in Nigeria, despite a decade of significant growth and bountiful natural resources, 67% of the population were estimated to live in abject poverty in 2011, while wealth inequality grew. This stands in contrast to the huge gains in poverty alleviation in China and India, which have seen more success toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To try and identify the source of this discrepancy, this journal article examines the challenges of inequality and poverty reduction among Nigerian women and youth, with a focus on inclusive growth in a post-MDG context.

 

The paper features a literature review which underwent a content analysis to address the problem of the study, using a framework that emphasises inclusive growth based on innovation. This review included the HDI Education Index for Nigeria, and the Gender Development Index, which shows an Intensity of Deprivation for Nigeria at 55.2% for 2013, comparatively high for how wealthy the nation is. The study findings indicate poverty reduction efforts in Nigeria are generally ineffective, mainly due to the misdirection of programmes from rural to urban areas, inadequate funding, lack of control, transparency and accountability, and inadequate coverage of the poor. However, significant progress has been made in terms of primary school enrollment, which is on target to hit the MDG target for 100% enrollment by 2015.

Drawing from the research, the author concludes that a number of actions need to be taken if Nigeria is to improve on its position of 152nd out of 187 countries in the HDI poverty reduction programme. First, entrepreneurial training programmes and capacity-building need to be increased, together with inclusive efforts aimed toward providing education and health facilities, catalysing integrated growth, income distribution, and financing land ownership. Additionally, inspiration could be taken from countries such as Chile and Malaysia, who have successfully boosted their economies by growing their agricultural exports. Other suggestions include national youth service schemes, and prison-inmate empowerment programmes to reduce cycles of poverty and crime. If such an integrated, inclusive approach were adopted,  backed by strong, independent, and transparent monitoring, then poverty in Nigeria can be substantially reduced in the coming post-2015 development...