Local Government and Poverty Eradication in Rural Nigeria

Poverty is a universal phenomenon that cut across both developed and underdeveloped countries. In Nigeria poverty is deep, widespread and multidimensional, and Nigerians are all victims of this condition in one way or the other even though the degree differs. However, available statistics reveals that poverty is more pronounced among the rural dwellers that form 70% of the country’s population. Efforts by successive government to eradicate poverty especially in the rural areas since independence have not yielded any desirable result in spite of huge amount of resources committed to it. This article focuses on the causes of rural poverty as well as strategies adopted to eradicate it by successive regimes in Nigeria. It also analysis some of the main weaknesses of the past attempt aimed at eradicating poverty and highlights the potential role that local government can play in poverty eradication efforts.