Strategy for Tackling Poverty in Nigeria

Book excerpt: This research evaluates what the National Youths Service Corps members community perceives as their support needs in Nigeria in tackling poverty. It also analyses the process of leveraging policymaking, using social marketing techniques. It seeks a deeper understanding of the poverty elimination processes in Nigerian and beyond. A mixed-methods research design was adopted engaging a quantitative approach in which 351 NYSC members were surveyed using self-completion questionnaires. In addition, qualitative studies in which policy-makers as well as young people within the NYSC members community were interviewed. The main findings of the research reveal that young people: NYSC members support-needs in Nigeria are inadequate. A great deal more needed to be done. A Marshall-plan scale of support is required. The most significant causes of poverty amongst the NYSC members are absence of jobs, corruption of government officials, low wages, tribalism, oil pollution, natural disasters, IMF/World Bank conditionalities and wars. The main experiences of poverty include a high youth unemployment rate, No money to-go-to-school, No money to start small businesses, less food to eat, no money to treat sickness, no money to buy-clothes, no money to afford decent homes, prostitution, absence of a public transportation system as well as into-drugs and into-kidnapping.