Implication of Leadership Change on Poverty Trends in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria has a great potential for economic growth ranging from enormous rich natural resources to a large population size significant for both domestic and foreign investments. However, the poverty rate in the country has grown beyond the imaginable threshold since the 1980s, despite high revenues from exports of crude oil. This study takes a descriptive overview of the poverty rate in Nigeria with reference to leadership change between 1980 and 2011. The results show a continuously increasing poverty rate within the period with the highest poverty rate estimated at 71.5%. The slide drop in the poverty rate to an average of  56.1% between 1999 and 2007 could be attributed to the measures taken by the government against administrative corruption, increased domestic and foreign investments, as well as some implemented agricultural policies. From the results, it can be inferred that the increase in the poverty rate in Nigeria, among other factors, could be attributed to inadequate and poorly implemented agricultural policies, political crisis and deep rooted administrative corruption worsened by high population growth and insecurity in the country. This study, therefore, recommends that the government should design a more transparent framework to help eradicate corruption among leaders in different sectors of the economy and focus more on agricultural development which has been the foundation of economic development and major means of livelihood of the majority of people in the country before the discovery of crude oil. It is also recommended that stakeholders in politics and the entire people of Nigeria should assist the government to maintain a secure, politically stable and safe economic environment to attract robust investments that would help improve the income and wellbeing of the people.

Keywords: Leadership change, poverty, poverty trends, poverty rate, Nigeria