POVERTY AND GOVERNANCE ASSESSING THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN ALLEVIATING POVERTY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Poverty is known to be a threat to world peace, security, prosperity and sustainability of development efforts. The paper anchored its argument on effective service delivery as a sine- qua non for poverty alleviation. Hence, the study seeks to address this question: Do corruption hinders the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes towards effective service delivery? The study is theoretical in nature, and the research design used is descriptive design. The study made use of secondary data in it analysis. It examines the relationship between poverty and corruption One of the key findings of this study is that the incidence of poverty remains increasing and spiking due to lack of accountability and transparency at the implementation levels. Thus, the progrmmes serve as a means of empowering friends and relatives who are closer to the corridors of power. Against this background, the study recommends among others that improvement of service delivery will help to alleviate poverty and ultimately the sustainable development efforts in Nigeria.