Selected NGOs and Poverty Reduction in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

Vincent Iorja Gisaor

doi:10.47747/ijcse.v2i3.344

Abstract

The research was undertaken to access the impact of Non-Government organizations (NGOs) on poverty reduction in Makurdi local government area of Benue State. Using descriptive approach to analyze the primary data obtained from the respondents through a structured questionnaires and semi-structured interview administered to the staff and officials of selected NGOs in the study area. Result shows that the respondents confirm benefits in terms of increased income, use of good transportation means, good accommodation, feeding and sleeping materials. Despite these benefits, there were challenges confronting the NGOs in the study area. One of the biggest challenges was finance to execute all their programmes as well as disburse to beneficiaries as loans and grants. The activities of NGOs were found only limited to Makurdi while the majority of the people were residing outside the state capital. Therefore, recommendations made include: awareness creation for more participation by people in entrepreneurship and financial independence since it is only through such skills that they can propel themselves out of poverty and the NGOs should seek for more sources of funding including soliciting financial support from the international community to enable it fund diversified economic activities of the vulnerable people in the country.

Highlights

There is no doubt about the fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with abundant human and material resources (Anyanwu, 1997 and Gisaor, 2016)
Beto and Leonorah (2016) evaluated the role of Non-Government organizations (NGOs) on poverty reduction in Mozambique using interviews and focus group discussions, the findings reveal that despite the existence of NGOs, the reduction of poverty has been minimal and it was found that Zambézia Province has experienced poor environments in terms of infrastructure, poor education and skills, poor health and nutrition
Table 2. below indicates that 28 respondents sampled corresponding to 70% of the respondents were single while 10 respondents corresponding to 25% of the respondents were married and 2 respondents or 5% were divorced. This implies that the single people dominated in the activities of the NGO in the study area

Summary

Introduction

There is no doubt about the fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with abundant human and material resources (Anyanwu, 1997 and Gisaor, 2016) In spite of these riches, it has been classified as one of the poorest countries of the world in terms of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), per capita income, consumption standards, provision and availability of basic needs, shelter, poverty, unemployment and overall economic performance (Umoh and Ibanga, 1997). Poverty reduction strategies are a position introduced in many countries by the World Bank; that is a development plan borne out of collaborative efforts of a broad range of stakeholders in poverty reduction. It is normally designed and implemented through the participation of all involved in one way or the other in poverty reduction and in other related

Methods

Results

Conclusion