| Abstract: | This article reviews recent developments in the measurement of poverty and uses the acquired knowledge to estimate poverty levels for Nigeria; monitors the trend of poverty, particularly during the period of adjustment; and identifies alternative policies and strategies for poverty alleviation in Nigeria in post-adjustment regimes. The results of estimated poverty indices for the three fiscal years, 1975, 1983/84 and 1985/86, suggest that, in general, poverty tended to increase over the period in question. The head-count index, the poverty-gap index and the severity index all increased in mangnitude as adjustment deepened. Intersectoral comparison indicates that poverty posed a greater problem to urban dwellers than to their rural counterparts. Two alternative policies to reduce poverty are suggested. The first - poverty alleviation through growth - is unattractive because it takes too long to achieve the desired result. The second is the policy of imperfect targetting, whose goal is to redistribute income towards the poor. Within this policy various options are available for finetuning the targeting of the redistributive measures. App., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
AfricaBib 
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Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat