Mechanism of Economic Empowerment and Development in Nigeria: A Discourse

Abstract

Nigeria and indeed Nigerians have been at the throes of development arising from poverty the people have been subjected over the years by the various regimes in Nigeria. Consequently, the drift of youths to urban cities from the rural areas has been the resultant effect in order to earn a living or to improve living standard in the cities. The paper examines the  mechanism being put in place by the Federal government in Nigeria to  alleviate the sufferings of the people aftermath of the poverty in the  country, by public administration led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the fourth republic which began in 2004. The mechanism to confront the situation which formed the basis of the study is known as “National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies” (NEEDS) launched in May, 2004. The research adopted the non-experimental survey method using the secondary source of data collection for the materials used in the work. The objectives of the paper attempts to explicate on the objectives of
NEEDS, the concept of economic empowerment, the policy thrusts of NEEDS, the strategies for employment generation, the institutional framework of NEEDS and the implementation and performance of NEEDS. It was  discovered in the course of the study that the mechanism has a robust programme embedded in NEEDS to tackle the problem of poverty among the people, especially the youths but implementation was found to be the impediment to the programme in order to achieve more. The paper  concludes with a call to the leaders of the nation to have a willing mind to work for the general wellbeing of the people putting politics aside.

Key words: poverty, mechanism development, strategies, programme