Strategic Planning: An Approach to Poverty Reduction in Nigeria (1980-2015)

Abstract

The study is an empirical investigation of Strategic Planning as an Approach to Poverty Reduction in Nigeria covering the period of 1980 – 2015. Data on National Poverty Rate (proxied by Poverty Head Count), Health Development strategies (proxied by National Population Growth Rate) Human Development strategies (proxied by National Literacy Rate), Energy production strategies (proxied by electricity production index), Employment Generation strategies (proxied by rate of employment generation) and Agricultural Support strategies (proxied by Agricultural Credit to farmers) were sourced from World Development Report, Index mundi Statistical Bulletin, Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and UNESCO Bulletin. The data were tested for stationarity and were found to be integrated with mixed order of integration. The data were then analyzed using the Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) Bounds test technique. The result showed a long run relationship amongst the variables. The result also revealed that Health Promotion and Energy production strategies were significant and properly signed indicating that these two strategic planning tools are significant determinants of poverty reduction in Nigeria, both in the long run and in the short run. All the five explanatory variables, except Agricultural Support Strategies, were rightly signed in the long run and thus each contributed to poverty reduction within the period of study. In conclusion, the study recommends that government should offer strong support in the areas of skill acquisition, on the job training and entrepreneurial development as more practical ways of reducing poverty, particularly in the short run. Government should urgently expand the power sector infrastructure to boost economic activities across all sectors and hence improve the quality of life of the citizenry. Also, government should discourage polygamy, promote birth control measures and discourage large family syndrome and devise a means to identify and support genuine and real farmers.

Keywords: Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag, Poverty Reduction, Poverty Head Count, Strategic Planning.