Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development (JRPGD) (ISSN: 2315-568x) Vol. 2(7) pp. 106-125, September, 2013
DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/jrpgd.2013.103
Available online http://www.interesjournals.org/JRPGD
Copyright ©2013 International Research Journals
Review
Gender, Economic Activities and Poverty in Nigeria
*1
Oduwole Tajudeen A. and 2Fadeyi Adebayo O.
*1
Department of Sociology, Houdegbe North American University Benin, Republic of Benin
2
Department of Sociology, Lagos State University Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author email: toduwole1@yahoo.com
Abstract
Growth and development are among the most exciting subjects in sociology, and the application of their
principles to developing countries especially the African economies, is both needed and timely. The
thrust of this paper views how changing gender identities and the roles can impact and influence
positive changes on Nigerian economy. The paper outlines the major methodological and conceptual
challenges to understanding poverty from a gender perspective. The principal challenges identified
include varying forms of gender exclusion in mainstream analytical and methodological approaches,
continued inadequacies in data on gender and poverty, and the ways in which advocacy for directing
resources to women has given rise to certain stereotypes which narrow the optic through which poverty
is conceptualized and addressed. A historical account and analysis of past poverty alleviation measures
and policy errors that bedeviled their implementation are evaluated. Added to these, data from various
documented reports are analyzed using content analysis techniques. The thrust of this paper’s
strongest conclusion is that, there is every need to empower Nigerian women particularly in the present
global economy which recognizes the need for individuals to develop their potentials and contribute to
the overall development of the nations. Poverty will be reduced to the barest minimum if the government
of Nigeria will take appropriate measures to implement and enforce laws and policies directed towards
enabling women have the same rights as men.
Keywords: Gender, Economic Activities, Poverty, Women Entrepreneur, Development and Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
Gender is a social construction and codification of
differences between the sexes and social relationship
between women and men. Historical, ideological, cultural,
religious, ethnic and economic factors that can be
changed largely in the course of time, influence the
society’s look at gender by political, economic or cultural
influence (Oppong, 1987; Mason, 1984). Added to this,
Olujobi (2001) refers to it as a division of humanity into
two distinctive categories based on their sex. Sex being
the obvious biological differences between men and
women. To the sociologists, it is used to denote the roles
played by women and men and deals not only with
differences (how society constructs feminine and
masculine people.) but also with how the society
connotes power on each of the sexes. The issue of
women most especially, (involvement in economic
activities to alleviating poverty) is not analogous to the
rights of marginal populations, minorities and other
disadvantaged groups, but is one concerning half the
total population of any country and their involvement in all
spheres of life in the process of social and economic
transformation (Jaham, 1974).
On the other hand, various empirical studies have
revealed that poverty is a global phenomenon (Lewu, 2008)
asserted. The World Bank referred to poverty as an
economic situation where a household income is insufficient
to meet the minimum nutritional need for growth and longterm survival. It is a vicious circle of multiple adverse
circumstances that limit the choices of the poor. People in
this category hardly experience any improvement from years
to years or sometimes from one generation to another
(World Bank, 2005). The United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) reported that more than one billion
people or one-fifth of the World’s population lived in extreme
poverty and that such poverty was a leading cause of
mortality (UNDP, 1994).
Furthermore, research studies revealed that persistent
problems of poverty seriously hamper country’s efforts
(Nigeria) to accelerate growth and reduce poverty as
Tajudeen and Adebayo 107
envisaged in her Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers as
well as in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The persistence of poverty is predominant in the rural
areas of the developing countries. Precisely in Nigeria,
incidence of poverty has been on the increase, rising
from 28.1 percent in 1980 to 44.0 percent in 1992 and
65.6 percent in 1996 but reduced to 55.4 percent in 2004
(NBS, 2006), with 70.8 percent of the populace reported
to have lived on less than US $1.25 a day in 2005
(UNDP, 2009). In addition, National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS, 2010) in the course of computing the poverty
profile for Nigeria using the Harmonized Nigeria Living
Standard Survey affirms that despite the fact that
Nigerian economy is paradoxically growing, the
proportion of Nigeria living in poverty is increasing every
year, rising from 55.4 percent in 2004 to 69.0 percent in
2010 (HNLSS, 2010).
In addition studies equally revealed unequivocally that
up to the early 70s, agriculture was the core of the
economic activities in Nigeria. During that period,
manufacturing and mining activities were at very low level
of development. The country’s participation in the
external trade was based on the level of economic
activities in agriculture. Thus, agricultural commodities
dominated the country’s export trade while manufactured
items dominated imports (CBN, 1993).
Here, this paper contextualized “economic activities”
as depicted by (Ekesionye and Okolo, 2012) to mean
“those activities that are concerned with production,
distribution, exchange and consumption of foods and
services”. It focuses on the way in which individuals,
groups, business enterprises and government seek to
achieve efficiency in any economic objective
(Lekachman, 2007). To achieve this objective; this paper
agreed with (Ekesionye and Okolo, 2012) and begins to
take a causal look at “Gender”, both male and female
most especially female gender. Reasons been that,
several reports showed that in Africa, women constitute
52% of the total population, contribute 75% of the
agricultural workforce, produce and market 60 to 80% of
food (Kwesiga, 1999). They (women) did this through
production, processing and marketing of food (Afolabi,
2005). They assist on family farm; fetch water, and fuel
wood. Most importantly, they act as health workers to
their children by providing health needs. They also
provide food, clothing and education to their children
(Azikwe, 1992). Experience has shown that women have
equal abilities with men and can compete favourably
when given equal opportunities (Ekesionye and Okolo,
2012) concluded.
Today, over 50% of the world’s women still face
gender discrimination in laws, policies and practices
(Flann and Oldham, 2007). Their work and contributions
have remained largely unnoticed and taken for granted.
This remains the fact because societies have traditionally
failed to recognized the contributions of women to the de-
velopment of the nation. It is against this background that
this paper is divided into four sections. Section one
contains introduction already highlighted above and to be
followed by attempting to investigate the various
economic activities engaged in by gender-women: their
constraints and challenges.Section two gives a historical
account and analysis of past poverty alleviation measures
with aview to highlighting policy errors that bedevilled
their implementation. Section three dichotomizes povertygender, a theoretical social discourse base on available
documented evidences using content analyses.While the
last session focus on how to empower gender-women to
increase their level of participation with a view of
enhancing their earnings, social status and contributions
to their families and the society at large for self-reliance
and development of the nation.Finally, the paper ends
with a conclusion.
Economic Activities Engaged in by Gender – Women,
Constraintsand Challenges.
Basic Challenges
Nigerian women, like their counterparts in other parts of
Africa traditionally have multiple responsibilities as
mothers and producers and therefore tend to engage
inactivities that are home-based and less risky (Nwoye,
2005). These have negative implications, as lowrisk
activities are often those, which produce limited returns.
The reduced physicalmobility of many of the women who
operate in this category also often prevents themfrom
seeking out information on better economic opportunities.
Generally however, theself-employed earn less than their
counterparts in paid employment (U.S. Small Business
Administration (1997). Although many people chose selfemployment because it seemsto offer them greater
independence and flexibility, Nigerian women who
engage in microand small enterprises started their
businesses
to
overcome
gender
discrimination
andeconomic disadvantages including the challenges of
poverty and its consequences. Hencethese groups of
entrepreneurs find it more convenient to engage in the
trade and servicesectors and have low representation in
the small-scale manufacturing sector. A situationthat is
attributed to factors such as: low levels of education, lack
of opportunities fortraining; as well as meager financial
and human capital. Some of the driving forcesbehind
them starting a business include: household subsistence
needs: like food, clothes,education of children,
unemployment; family pressures on girls to earn their
own living among others. Invariably, “these women are
naturally entrepreneurial by their activehandling of risks
and uncertainties in order to meet the challenges
imposed on them byunequal access to socially and
economically valued goods, opportunities, resources
108 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
And other rewards” (Okoyeuzu et al., 2012) further
stressed.
Today globalization is no longer a choice but a reality.
To achieve and maintain prosperity, all economies must
ensure that they are well positioned to takeadvantage of
new opportunities and challenges offered by a global
market. There isgrowing recognition internationally that
gender equality is good for economicgrowth and essential
for poverty reduction (Ellis, 2004). Where gender
inequalities constitute barriers to women entering or
participatingfully in markets, economic growth and private
sector development will be constrained with less
investment,
less
competition,
and
lower
productivity(Forbes, 1999). Gender inequalities can also
adversely
affect
theoutcomes
of
trade
and
macroeconomic policy reforms and their ability to
translateincentives into economic development.
Nigeria still falls short of the desired result of giving
males and females’ equal Opportunities and equal
access
to
opportunities to
advance
socially,
economicallyand politically. Evidence abounds of several
forms of gender-based discriminationin gender relations
in Nigeria. Gender-based division of labour, disparities
betweenmale and female access to power and
resources, and gender bias in rights andentitlements
remain pervasive in Nigeria. (National Gender. Policy,
2006) It isagainst this background that this study sets out
to investigate the role of women inthe Nigerian economy
especially their participation in economic activities,
toidentify factors that hinder their development, to shed
light on how women affectand are affected by policies as
enunciated by the trio; “the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria
clearly stipulates gender equality, but customary and
religious laws continue to restrict women’s rights. The
disparities betweenNigerian women and men in terms of
political, social, educational and economicachievements
cannot be separated from some problems which hinder
paritybetween the two groups. Such problems include low
participation of women inpolitics, limited rights in terms of
access to resources (land ownership and credit)and
opportunities (education, training, occupation), especially
for the predominantly Muslim Northern women. There are
also more than 320 ethnicgroups with various customs,
with many, constraining women's full participation
insociety thereby exacerbating poverty for instance”
(Okoyeuzu et al., 2012).
of income yield or reward have not been favorable to
women in terms of participation. There are
theconstruction industries where women participation is
0.2% relative to men’s 3.2%,transportation and
communication business, 0.5% relative to men’s 6.8%,
and administration/defense, where women participation is
only 2.5% as against men’s7.0%. In other industries, their
levels of participation and favorable quantitative terms but
negligible when viewed in terms of administrative
positions occupied. Ofmuch significance is the extent to
which women general participate in matters ofdecision –
making within the Nigerian State. How many of them
occupy political positions, executive positions, etc?
However, a much higher concentration of them are
found at the lower level of economic activity and are
therefore less likely to influence policy decisions intheir
favours. Some people have argued against the increased
participation ofwomen in all spheres of economic and
political activities. They argue that thebiology of sex
determines that women are limited to the home and
children andmust play a subordinate role in the economy,
public affairs. They argue that In fact, women are
naturally mothers, and their greatest pleasure and true
fulfillment lies in maternity, the one out of a few things
that women are good at (Deckard, 1983).These kinds of
ideologies about women have tended to marginalize
women and have belittled women’s work in the home and
outside the home and thereforewomen’s contribution to
economic well-being of the home and society.In order to
correct this imbalance, and to overcome the issue of
marginalization ofwomen especially given the fact that
women constitute more than half the activework force in
Nigeria, there is every need that women’s voices should
be heard andbe part of major decision making in the
country. In fact, if the human resources of a nation are
supposed to be an asset, then it will be unthinkable to
marginalize almost half of the labour force, which
happens to be women, in Nigeria (Okoyeuzu et al., 2012)
further stressed. Their politicalrights and participation
even though guaranteed under 1999 Constitution, does
notreflect their numerical strength in the country. They
play a minimal role in the areaof politics. This is not
because they are incapable, but because many of them
lackeducation and economic empowerment compared
with their male counterparts (Okoyeuzu et al., 2012)
concluded.
The Gender Matrix in Economic Activities in Nigeria
Government Policies on Gender Issues
A look at table one (1) is quite revealing. As at 2008, the
total percentage of women workers (participants)
engaged in one form of activity or the other in the
economy is 43.1% as opposed to men’s 56.9%. This
picture though appears nice statistically, is quite
misleading. Key leading sectors in the economy by way
There had been several policies, programmes and
projects designed to assist women, especially lowincome
women
in
their
bid
to
achieve
economicindependence in all spheres of their lives and to
improve their participation in public life and the decision
Tajudeen and Adebayo 109
Table 1. The number of workers classified by industry (unit: the person, %) in Nigeria as at 2008
Industry
Agriculture and
Forestry
Fishing
Mining
Manufacturing Industry
Electricity, gas and
Water
Construction
Industry
Retail trade
Hotel restaurant
Business
Transportation and
communication
business
Finance business
Real estate business
Administration and
Defense
Education
Health and Social
Welfare
Social services
House helper
Others
Total
Female
7,029,237
%
36.5
Male
12,207,075
%
63.5
Total
19,236,348
188,831
40,301
1,197,538
1.0
0.2
6.2
293,901
152,860
1,084,390
1.5
0.8
5.6
482,732
193,161
2,281,928
68,582
0.4
233,072
1.2
301,654
37,445
0.2
620,749
3.2
658,194
5,796,543
30.1
3,037,550
15.8
8,834,093
163,561
0.9
53,557
0.3
217,118
96,300
0.5
1,308,250
6.8
1,404,550
52,088
189,984
477,061
0.3
1.0
2.5
74,337
226,263
1,352,562
0.4
1.2
7.0
126,425
414,247
1,909,149
915,040
292,143
4.8
1.5
994,109
183,185
5.2
1.0
475,328
475,328
727,588
98,320
16,113
17,484,163
3.8
0.5
0.1
43.1
1,112,014
99,616
50,325
23,053,815
5,8
0.5
0.3
56.9
1,839,602
197,936
66,438
40,567,978
Source. Federal ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (2008b) Nigeria
Gender Statistics Book, Abuja: Government Printed
making process. The federal government establishedthe
National Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategy (NEEDS) in2004 which is largely a poverty
reduction strategy document. It contains 4 targeted
areas: (1) creation of wealth, (2) job creation, (3) poverty
reduction, and (4) value added direction. Then by 2006,
came The National Gender Policy which is a keypolicy
document that supports women’s participation in political
and public life.
One of the objectives of this Policy was aimed at
achieving minimum threshold of representation for
women in order to promote equal opportunity in all areas
of political, social, and economic life of the country. By
2007, the Nigerian Government enunciated a Seven
Point Agenda, a policydocument which was followed by
Vision 2020in 2010. All of these initiativesinclude efforts
to address the gender gap, gender equality and
women’sempowerment. The measures to be adopted to
achieve
these
goals
were:
“Ensuringequitable
representation of women in all aspects of governance.
The affirmativeaction of proportionate representation of
not less than 30% representation is to bepursued where
feasible. Establishing scholarship schemes at the
secondary andtertiary levels in order to expand
educational opportunities for female studentswhere
necessary and expanding a programme on non-formal
education throughsustained advocacy education e.g.
adult and vocational education to cater forwomen beyond
school age” (Okoyeuzu et al., 2012) as stated in their
research work.
The challenge of gender parity in Nigeria is less in the
provisions of the constitution but more in implementation.
Nigeria still falls short of the desiredresult of giving males
and females equal opportunities and equal access
toopportunities to advance socially, economically and
politically. Evidence aboundsof several forms of genderbased discrimination in gender relations in Nigeria.
Thepolitical arena in Nigeria is such a system where
money rather than merit appearsto determine who gets
what in the case of elective positions. The males,
110 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Having been exposed to income yielding opportunities
earlier than women, have beenmonopolizing the political
field. Though the constitution guarantees equal right,
topolitical offices women are still lagging behind. When
women compete with menfor access to political power,
they do so on the terms already established by menfor
competition among themselves. The success of women
in politics like that ofany group cannot be achieved within
a system without displacing or replacing theexisting elite.
And a change in values which cannot occur
independently in thesocio-economic as well as political
relations, without clear involvement of womenin the
political process through holding of various offices
(positions) and makeknown their own ambition through
consciousness and effective involvement in thepolitical
scene a condition which if absent allows or facilitates the
political elitesdominated by and govern women remain
the same.
Challenges
There are many challenges facing women which must to
be addressed in order that they will rise to their rightful
position in the scheme of things both economicallyand
political.Female poverty rate is particularly high in Nigeria
because of race, religion andsocial-political backgrounds.
Many women in Nigeria still lack formal education
compared to their male counterpart. The implementation
of NEEDS and SEEDS has not improved the situation of
Nigerian women who bear the brunt of inequality.The
laws enacted especially in the Northern states of the
country to improve theOpportunity of the girl child to
education is seriously hampered by lack of
effectiveenforcement and monitoring mechanisms. The
challenges facing Women in economic activities appear
in diverse forms: the cost and availability of finance
andaccess to the funds; human capacity to handle
business, and constraints for manyfirms in Nigeria and
business loans usually require collateral culture. The
recentWork on financing behavior by (Okoyeuzu, 2010)
find that the cost of finance wasa major constraint to firm
investment in Nigeria due to lack of collateral
andrestricted access to formal credit, firms have primarily
relied on informal sourcessuch as family, friends and
traditional moneylenders. These sources can have
highinterest rates, or they may not always have the funds
available for making loans.
The argument for addressing these issues is that good
economic and financial management is necessary to
create a conducive environment for the private sectorto
flourish and for successful use of development
assistance.Involvement of women in decision making
both at federal and state level in Nigeriais still very
negligible. There is every need to encourage and assist
more womengain access and be part of decision making
bodies. Women have great potentialsnecessary to
accelerate social and political development and
consequently transform the society into a better one.
Nigerian women have been contributingtheir quota to the
development of the nation; however, their potentials have
notbeen fully tapped due to some constraints.
Increasingly, there are more women in managerial
positions in various establishments. This gives a prospect
for more positions for women at top levels inthe future. A
few establishments that have been privileged to be
helped by womenin this country stood out in terms of
output. The transformation of National Agencyfor food
and drug Administration control (Nafdac) by Professor
Dora Akunyili (Mrs.) cannot be over emphasized. She
was able to stand up and say no to allfake drugs amidst
all challenges. The reorganization of the Nigeria tax
system andthe tax management bodies from a low
revenue generating parastatals since the organization
became headed by MsIfueke Omogui among others,
have stoodwomen out as agents of transformation, in
honesty and transparent manners, ifgiven the
opportunity. Obiageli Ezekwesili is a thorough woman
shaping worldeconomies as the managing Director of
World Bank. These were the wordsof Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, who was nominated for the World Bank topmost
seatby Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. She has
demonstrated competence intackling economic problems
in developing economies and Africa. She made theParis
Club –a group of bilateral creditors, to pay $12 billion of
Nigeria’s external debt in return for an $18 billion debt
write-off when she served as finance ministerin the
administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Most women haveexcelled as effective managers.
In general women have some distinctive qualities
which they bring to bear on any organization they are
managing that enables them excel. (Pantiye and Garbe
1991)identified the common features of Nigerian women
as (a) tolerance and endurance(b.) high need for
association, frankness in matter they considered
serious,emotional stability and (c)stubbornness to a
belief. (d) Moral decadence andnational instability). Most
of these characteristics of Nigerian women are needed
tobail Nigeria out of its present predicamentsIf women
are encouraged and given opportunity, they would help
manage thecountry out of its present economic quagmire.
Poverty in Nigeria
In Nigeria, poverty has always existed ever before
independence. In pre-colonial period, people exchange
what they produced for what they needed through trade
by barter. This ability to meet their needs was limited to
the quantity of their production. During the colonial era,
there was self-sufficiency in food but per capital income
and social services were low. The oil boom of between
Tajudeen and Adebayo 111
Table 2. Poverty Incidence by State including F.C.T (1990 – 1996) and 2004
State
Abia
Adamawa
AkwaIbom
Anambra
Bauchi
Bayelsa
Benue
Borno
Cross River
Delta
Ebonyi
Gombe
Imo
Jigawa
Kaduna
Kano
Kastina
Kebbi
Kogi
Kwara
Lagos
Nassarawa
Niger
Ogun
Ondo
Osun
Oyo
Plateau
Rivers
Sokoto
Taraba
Yobe
Zamfara
F.C.T
All Nigeria
1980
14.4
33.4
12.8
7223.6
23.6
26.4
10.2
19.8
12.8
24.9
12.8
46.0
14.4
37.5
44.7
37.5
44.7
25.4
33.3
33.3
26.4
49.5
34.0
20.0
24.9
7.8
7.8
49.5
7.2
25.4
33.4
26.4
33.4
n.a
23.1
1985
33.1
47.2
37.7
44.4
42.9
50.1
41.9
52.4
52.4
47.3
37.7
86.9
33.1
54.0
58.5
55.0
58.7
45.8
39.3
39.3
42.6
49.5
61.4
56.0
47.3
28.3
28.3
64.2
44.4
45.8
47.2
50.1
45.5
n.a
16.3
1992
49.9
44.1
32.3
43.4
40.8
49.7
45.5
33.3
33.9
46.6
32.3
68.8
49.9
38.7
32.0
38.7
32.0
37.9
60.8
60.8
48.1
50.2
29.9
36.3
46.6
40.7
40.7
50.2
43.4
37.9
44.1
49.7
37.9
27.6
42.7
1996
56.2
65.5
66.9
83.5
44.3
64.2
66.9
56.1
51.0
56.1
71.6
83.5
56.2
71.0
67.7
71.0
67.7
83.6
75.5
75.5
83.0
62.7
52.9
69.9
71.6
58.7
58.7
62.7
77.3
83.6
65.6
66.9
83.6
53.0
65.6
2004
22.27
71.73
34.82
20.11
86.29
19.98
55.33
53.63
41.61
45.35
43.33
77.01
27.39
95.07
50.24
61.29
71.06
89.65
88.55
85.22
63.58
61.59
63.90
31.73
42.14
32.35
24.08
60.37
29.09
76.81
62.15
83.25
80.93
43.32
54.4
Source. Federal Office of Statistics (FOS, 2000) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2005)
1973 and 1980 brought mixed blessings to Nigeria. The
increased
revenue
was
diverted
to
develop
infrastructures, social services, increase in wages
especially in non-agricultural sectors and per capital
income (Olaleye, 2000), had serious adverse
consequences on the agricultural sector leading to a
drastic fall (from 60% in 1960 to 31% in early 1980s) in
the contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). Consequently, Nigeria became a net
importer of food. Hence, when oil prices began to fall in
1982, the welfare system was affected, per capital
income and private consumption dropped. That marked
the beginning of real poverty in Nigeria (World Bank,
1995).
According to World Bank reports, poverty in Nigeria is
endemic and visible. It is found to be more prevalent in
the rural areas. The problem in the rural areas is further
compounded over the years by the biased development
pattern towards the urban areas. This worsened the
terms of domestic trade for poor farmers, food
processors, informal traders and micro-entrepreneurs
(World Bank, 1995). The report further disclosed that
regional differences in the distribution of poverty had
been observed. For instance, poverty was found to have
declined more in the South and Middle Belt. In the South,
it declined from 42 to 26 percent while in the North it
declined from 36 to 32 per cent. In addition, poverty was
also found to be more common among the illiterates,
households headed by older people, wages earners, the
self-employed and those in communities with poor
access to social services. Poverty as a long-standing
problem in Nigeria has manifested itself in the low social
status and poor living conditions of the peoples. Statistical
data from the then Federal Office of Statistics (FOS),
indicate that by 1960 poverty covered about 15% of the
population of Nigeria and by 1980, it grew to 28%. By
1985, the extent of poverty was about 46% and then 149
dropped to 43% by 1992. By 1996, poverty incidence in
112 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Table 3. Relative Poverty: Non-poor, Moderate poor and Extremely poor (1980 – 2010)
Year
1980
1985
1992
1996
2004
2010
Non-poor
72.8
53.7
57.3
34.4
43.3
31.0
Moderate poor
21.0
34.2
28.9
36.3
32.4
30.3
Extremely poor
6.2
12.1
13.9
29.3
22.0
38.7
Source. Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey (NBS, 2010)
Nigeria was estimated to be about 66% in a total
population of about 110 million then, (Evbuomwam, 1999)
based on the FOS data also, the state by state poverty
indicates high and varying poverty levels among the
states of the federation. It further shows that poverty in
Nigeria increased sharply both between 1980 and 1985
and between 1992 and 1996. Furthermore, by 1992 only
10 states had more than half of their population in
poverty, but by 1996 all states except Bayelsa had more
than half of their population in poverty. (FOS, 2000) (table
2).
Furthermore, (NBS, 2010) opined that poverty is a
serious phenomenon in Nigeria. The basic causes
identified relate to the problem of access and
endowment, which include among others:
Inadequate access to employment opportunities
by the poor due to the lull in economic activities
Inadequate access to asserts such as land and
capital;
Lack of development effort in the poor regions in
preference to urban and high potential areas
Inadequate access to education, health,
sanitation and water services
Inadequate access to markets for the goods and
services of the poor in remote areas owing to poor road
networks
Non participation of the poor in the design of
development programmes that are thought to be
beneficial to them. (HNLSS, 2010) went further by
presenting a geometrical statistical progression of poverty
in Nigeria and classified them into non-poor, moderate
poor and extremely poor for period of 1980 – 2010 (table
3).
The proportion of the extremely poor increasing from
6.2 percent in 1980 to 29.3 percent in 1996 and them
came down to 22.0 percent in 2004. For the moderately
poor, the picture was quite different as the proportion
recorded increased between 1980 and 1985 from 21.0
percent and 34.2 percent respectively. It went down
between 1996 and 2004, from 36.3 percent to 32.4
percent. On the other hand, the proportion of non-poor
was much higher in the country in 1980 (72.8 percent)
compared to 1992 (57.3 percent) and (34.4 percent).
Although it rose to 43.3 percent in 2004, it dropped to 31
percent in 2010.
Poverty Alleviation Programmes
The complexity of the manifestation of poverty in the lives
of Nigerians has been engendered through efforts aimed
at tackling poverty through sectoral and multi-sectoral
approaches. Sectoral approaches include agriculture,
health, education, transport, housing and the financial
sectors, while the multi-sectoral approach includes the
National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Directorate of
Food. Roads and Rural Infrastructures (DFRR1).Better
Life for Rural Women, Family Support Programme and
many others (Evbuomwan, 1999). The various sectoral
and multi-sectoral approaches are discussed below.
Sectoral Programmes
GO Agriculture:
During the mid-1950s and early 1960s, rural development
was viewed as agricultural development. Consequently,
rural development worldwide was intensified to eradicate
poverty, raise the standard of living of rural dwellers and
develop agricultural productivity (Evbuomwan, 1999).
Efforts at poverty alleviation by the Nigerian government
can be traced to 1960. The government established in
the Western Region the Farm Settlement Scheme in the
region in 1960, and was replicated in the Eastern Region
in 1962, in the Northern Region in 1963 and in the MidWestern Region in 1964. The scheme was targeted at
solving the unemployment problem of school leavers.
However, lack of equipment, qualified personal and the
general lack of interest by the target group rendered the
attempt unsuccessful (Ekong, 1991).
As far back as 1971, the Nigerian government had
identified poverty as a hindrance to rural development.
Hence, in line with World Rank-recommendation which
was based on the agricultural survey of Nigeria, the
federal government embarked on implementing three
pilot integrated agricultural and rural development
projects in Funtua, Gusau and Gombe. The Agricultural
Development projectslater spread across the federation.
These projects were aimed at stimulating increased food
production and enhancing the income of the rural
population".
Tajudeen and Adebayo 113
Between 1970 and 1982, the contribution of
agriculture to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell from 45
per cent to 27 per cent, agricultural contribution to
exports nose-dived from 70% to 20% during the same
period. Importation of goods consequently increased
substantially in the same period. Therefore, in the mid to
late 1970s, strategies such as Operation Feed the Nation
and Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund were
adopted. All these attempts failed to meet the food need
of the nation or uplift the poor (Egware 1977). During the
(1979 -83) civilian administration, the Green Revolution
was adopted with the aim of improving farm produce and
rural living standard. It was aimed at creating enabling
environment in the rural areas to discourage farm labour
from migrating to urban centres. However, political
instability, inconsistencies in government policies and
other exigencies led to the failure of the projects. Instead
there was increase in the number of the rural poor,
decrease in food production and increase in rural-urban
drift. It was subsequently scrapped (Odedeji, 1997).
To raise agricultural productivity as well as the living
standards of the rural areas, the River Development
Projects were adopted around the 80s. This also met with
failure, which made the government to excise some of its
departments and what was left was discredited in the mid
80s. Other agricultural strategies include the
establishment of National Agricultural Land Development
Authority (NALDA) in 1991, the Strategy Grains Reserves
Programme, the development of fishery, small ruminant
production and pasture grazing reserve.(Archibong,
1997) Central Bank of Nigeria's reports of 1995 showed
that NALDA's operation in 30 states of the federation
encouraged small holder farmers to bring more land
under cultivation thus, improving agricultural output and
consequently reducing household expenditure on food,
which led to poverty alleviation. The same CBN reports
recorded that the performance of NALDA was
constrained by inadequate and untimely release of funds
and shortage of farm machinery (CBN, 1995).
The Financial Sector:
Government efforts at alleviating poverty through the
financial sector included the establishment of
development banks: the Agricultural Credit Guarantees
Scheme (ACGS), the Central Bank of Nigeria rural
banking programme which was replaced by Community
Banks arid the People's Bank of Nigeria with operations
similar to non-formal banking. The Rural Banking
Scheme was introduced in 1977. It was aimed at bringing
banking services to the rural areas. Unfortunately, limited
success was recorded because the banks were reluctant
to open rural branches for many reasons. The most
important of the reasons was the lack of basic
infrastructures in the rural areas. To support the above
sectoral and multi-sectoral government efforts, a relief
package was also provided to alleviate poverty caused by
the effects of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). In
June 1989, the Federal Government gave an extrabudgetary relief package amounting to N494.9 million to
provide employment opportunities, improve health care
delivery and reduce transport difficulties.
Similarly, in 1989, the People's Bank of Nigeria was
established to meet the needs of the poor small-scale
business entrepreneurs. This was a non-formal bank
designed to lend money to the poor without collateral. It
depended solely on the Federal government grants. It
extended credit to the poor who could not otherwise have
access to credit facilities in the commercial and merchant
banks. In like manner, the Community Bank was
established in 1990. Owned and managed by
communities it was intended to provide financial services
to members on easy terms such as self-recognition and
credit- worthiness. Skepticism was however ex pressed
about appropriate funding and management. The
Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry was
established in 1993. This was designed to provide loans
for small and medium-scale enterprises but the bank
could not achieve much party because it resorted to
conventional banking requirements for granting loans
(Unianikogbo, 1991).
The Health Sector:
The main goal of Nigeria's health policy was the provision
of affordable health service to large proportion of
Nigerians. This included health education, adequate
nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, maternal and
child health with referral to other levels of health care.
Some of the health schemes included the Primary Health
Care Scheme which was aimed at providing at least one
health centre in every local government area. Another
was the UNICEF assisted Guineaworm Eradication
Programme launched in 1988. It recorded great success.
Though the effectiveness of public health care
programmes was hindered by inadequate funding from
local governments and lack of equipment, essential drugs
and trained manpower, the number of reported cases
reduced from 650,000 in 1983 to 222, GOO by the end of
1992. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI)
established in 1992 was to cater for the health need of
the rural people (Unamikogbo, 1997).
Education Sector;
Since 1971, the major focus of the National Policy on
Education has remained making education meet the
economic need and development of every Nigerian.
Though the Federal Government has spent huge sums of
114 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
money on education, much of it had been spent on
secondary and tertiary education whereas it is the
primary and adult education that the poor need most. The
Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme started
during Third National Development Plan (1975-1980) was
abandoned at the national level. Most states either
continued or abandoned the plan too. This (together with
inadequate funding) invariably led to the rapid fall in the
standard of education.
Some programmes specifically targeted at the poor
include, the nomadic education developed to train the
children of nomads, especially in the north. Other
programmes were focused on girls' education, adult
literacy, women and children in exceptionally deficient
circumstances. Despite effort made toward making
education come within the reach of all Nigerian only adult
literacy rate, which stood at 49.8 in 1980, increased
marginally to 55.0 in 1995.(Egware, 1977).
The Housing Sector
The National Housing Policy was launched in February
1991 by the Federal Government through the
establishment of National Housing Fund managed by the
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. To moderate the
acute shortage of shelter, the government also designed
a programme for direct construction of house. The
government constructed some prototype bungalows
ranging from one to three bedroom sizes which were
presumably sold to the low income earners. It launched
the National Housing Construction for 1994/95 which was
expected to build 121, 000 housing units. In addition, "the
Federal Housing Authority (FHA) was involved in direct
construction of housing units. In Abuja, the FHA
completed 1.114 housing units in the Federal Capital
Territory in 1994 alone (Uniamikogbo, 1997). These
efforts have however not drastically reduced the housing
problems faced by the poor because they could not afford
the rents or outright purchase of the houses (Ekong,
1997).
economic activities of women in the rural areas through
agricultural extension services, education and vocational
training, cottage industries and food processing, primary
health care delivery and enlightenment. It also assisted
with inputs and credit facilities to carry out these
programmes (Olaleye, 2000). However, the target groups
did not get the full benefits of the programme. It thus led
to minimal success in alleviating the poverty of the rural
women.
Family Support Programme
This programme was initiated by another then First Lady,
during 1998 military regime to replace the Better Life
Programme of 1988 military regime. It aimed at improving
and sustaining family cohesion through the promotion of
social and economic well-being of the Nigerian families.
In order to contribute to national development, special
policy programmes were introduced in the health,
education and agriculture sectors These come in the
mold of child welfare and youth development, women in
development, disability, destitution and income
generation programmes.(uniamikogbo, 1997).
Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure
(DFRRI)
This programme was established in 1986 to alleviate
poverty through the development of rural infrastructures.
It was expected to provide basic amenities like access
roads, rural electrification and portable water to ease the
living conditions of the rural people. The programme was
criticized for its lack of special design to meet the need of
the vulnerable poor. DFRRI could not achieve its set
objective because there was no effective standard for
project co-ordination and harmonization among the three
tiers of government and between DFRRI and the various
governments (Ekong, 1997).
National Directorate of Employment (NDE)
Multi-Sectoral Poverty Alleviation Programmes
Apart from the above sectoral programmes, several multisectoral programmes were embarked upon to alleviate
poverty in Nigeria. Some of which were women-friendly.
They include the following.
Better Life for Rural Women:
The programme was established in 1988 by the then First
Lady, of the military regime, as her pet project. It focused
on rural women in rural areas. It aimed at boosting the
The programme was launched in 1987 for the purpose of
creating employment opportunities in form of selfemployment end self-reliance aimed at poverty reduction
among unemployed youths in rural and urban areas. This
was to be achieved through the training of the youths in
different arts and crafts and providing them with soft
loans and equipment. It had four main programmes;
Vocational Skills Development, Special Public Works,
Small Scale Enterprise and Agriculture. In 1989, millions
was allocated to the NDE for the employment of 62,000
graduates and non-graduates nation-wide as part of
extra-Budgetary relief package by the federal govern-
Tajudeen and Adebayo 115
ment, this was to cushion the effects of the then
Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Though the
directorate gave loans, trained the unemployed and
assisted 156 rationalized all poverty eradication
institutions and small scale entrepreneurs in various
ways, it was impossible to cope with the ever increasing
application in the face of inadequate funds (Olaleye,
2000)
Mass Mobilisation for Social Justice and Economic
Reconstruction (MAMSER)
The programme was introduced in 1986 to mobilize and
encourage the participation of grassroot people in
development. This was done through integrated rural
development and basic needs strategy (Olaleye, 2000).
Community
Action
Alleviation (CAPPA)
Programme
for
Poverty
CAPPA was yet another Federal Government programme
aimed at alleviating poverty. It was established in 1997.
Its objectives were to improve the living conditions of the
poor through a targeted, cost-effective, demand-driven
and promptly delivered programme. Other aims include
enhancing the productivity of the poor through skills
improvement and improving the nutritional status of the
poor through improved household food security and
health practices. Though these were laudable objectives,
the basis and framework for adopting the methods were
not clear. Besides, the poor people were already
discouraged and it was unclear how the government
would encourage then to participate in the programme
(Olaleye, 2000).
Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP)
The programme was introduced in 1993 as an investment
promotion and poverty alleviation programme by the
Federal Government. Aimed at stimulating appropriate
economic activities nation-wide, it focused on the
provision of loans to promote entrepreneurship and
business opportunities
National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP)
After examining the report of a committee set up to study
the achievements of previous poverty alleviation
programmes. NAPEP was introduced. This bold step was
to eradicate (and not only alleviate) poverty through four
different schemes.
(i) Youth Empowerment Schemes (YES)
This Youth Empowerment Schemes (YES) was
designed to empower the youth to acquire skills that will
make them self-reliant and improve or build their capacity
through on-the-job training,
(ii) Rural Infrastructures Development Scheme
(RIDS)
Under this second scheme, the government would
provide the people with good and portable drinking water
by sinking boreholes in each local government area of
Nigeria. Also, the abandoned water projects by the
Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) were to be completed.
(iii) Social Welfare Services Schemes (SOWE.SS)
This is meant to provide social amenities such as
transportation through the Federal Mass Transit Scheme.
(iv) National
Resources
Development
arid
Conservation Scheme (NRDCS)
The
Natural
Resources
Development
and
Conservation Scheme (NRDCS) was to harness the
agricultural, water and solid, mineral resources; conserve
the land and space (beaches, reclaimed land, etc.)
particularly, for convenient and effective use by small
scale operators and the immediate community (Aliyu,
2002).
To ensure well-coordinated and monitored poverty
eradication efforts, the federal government streamlined
and programmes. Thereafter, NAPEP became the
comprehensive structure for coordinating and monitoring
the activities of the core poverty eradication ministries
and agencies (Aliyu, 2002).
Apart from government effort at alleviating poverty in
Nigeria, some non-government organization (NGOs)
have also attempted to alleviate poverty in Nigeria.
Attempts by Nigerian. N.G.Os to Alleviate Poverty
Many Nigerian N.G.Os have adapted traditional credit
practices to finance community programmes in order to
impact positively on the lives of Nigerians. The Farmers
Development Union (FADU) and the Country Women
Association of Nigeria (COWAN) have a national spread
and are involved in micro-credit programmes while the
Development Exchange Centre (DEC) and Life above
Poverty Organisation (LAPO) cover several states within
a region where they have comparative advantage (Chete,
1997). Micro-credit has been noted to increase access to
basic social services that enhanced the well-being of the
very poor (Ekong, 1997). Other NGOs include the
Women Farmmers Association of Nigeria (WOFAN),
Alternative Development (Alter Dev) to mention but a few.
They all focused mainly on poverty alleviating activities
among the rural poor throughout Nigeria by specifically
promoting
community-based
agricultural
projects
(Akinsanmi, 2006). The United Nations' Millennium
Development Programme realizing the level of extreme
116 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
poverty among developing countries, the United Nations
initiated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in
2002. Essentially, 189 world leaders made a pledge to
eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. The MDGs have
eight blueprints through which their goals will be achieved
such as eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving
universal primary education, promoting gender equality
and women empowerment, reducing child mortality,
improving maternal health, developing global partnership
for development and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases. Developing countries from sub-saharan
Africa, Latin America and Central Asia are required to
meet MDGs within a specified time. However, situation
reports from sub-saharan Africa unlike Central Asia
raised concerns whether most countries on the continent
will be able to achieve the set goals in record time
(Akinsanmi, 2006). However, the combined efforts of
government and NGOs through their various
programmes have failed to alleviate poverty to any
appreciable level.
Why the Programmes Failed
It has been observed that many of the poverty alleviation
programes failed for several reasons. One of such is the
use of wrong approaches. Those who designs the
programmes did not involve the poor who are the
prospective beneficiaries. It is believed that the target
group should have been involved during the planning and
designing stages. That is, a 'bottom-top' rather than 'topbottom' approach should have been used to determine
the needs of the poor'.
The reason for failure has being broadly categorized
into two, designing and implementation, policy
acceptability which are tagged as 'aspirin solution" and
'benefit capture'. The 'aspirin solution' refers to a situation
where instant solutions are prescribed to treat the
perceived symptoms of a problem without considering the
root causes(s) of the problem. For instance, a health
centre may be recommended for a community with a high
incidence of illness that only need good drinking water to
stay healthy. The 'benefit capture' depicts a scenario
where benefits that should accrue to the beneficiary of
designed projects are 'captured' away at every stage of
the project development (Egware, 1997).
Other reasons for the failure of poverty alleviation
programmes includes their adhoc nature, poor design
and execution. Inadequate staffing and equipment also
contribute to the failure of poverty alleviation
programmes. In addition, it has been noted that the
scope of the activities of most agencies set up for PAP is
too broad. Consequently, the available resources are
thinly spread into too many activities. An example is the
case of DFRR1 and Better Life for Rural Women
whose programmes covered almost every sector and
overlapped with many other existing programmes
(Egware, 1997).
Wrong location of poverty alleviation projects also lead
to failure in achieving the set objectives. Designers and
planners often make the mistake of sitting projects in
places of their own choice without recourse to their
appropriateness in view of the population which may be
served by such projects. These choices were often
informed by personal interests in terms of religions,
politics, ethnicity or social inclination. The use of oversophisticated equipment is another cause of failure. In an
attempt to impress certain individuals, some
government/donors
often
provide
sophisticated
equipment to communities instead of simple but equally
effective and efficient machine. When this equipment got
damaged, the programmes too collapsed because there
were no spare parts or the technical know-how to operate
and maintain them. Besides, the running cost of such
equipment may be beyond the reach of the beneficiaries
of the project. It is therefore important to put into
consideration the maintenance and operation of
equipment as constant breakdown of equipment often
discourage young entrepreneurs (Aliyu, 2002). The
absence of effective collaboration among the three tiers
of governments, duplication of functions and unhealthy
rivalries also contribute to the failure of the programmes.
Others problem of failure emanating this days are
political chauvinism, ethnic and religious bigotry and
corruption and at its peak.
Dichotomizing Poverty and Gender: A theoretical
social discourse
Understanding poverty from a gender perspective is a
herculean task. As noted by kabeer (1997)
“poverty has not always been analyzed from a gender
perspective. Prior to the feminist contributions to poverty
analysis, the poor were either seen as composed entirely
of men or else women’s needs and interests were
assumed to be identical to, and hence subsumable
under, those of male household heads”
Leading on from this, the push for understanding the
gender dimensions of poverty owes in no small measure
to mounting feminist research and advocacy, which from
the 1970s onwards, has “challenged the gender
blindness of conventional poverty measurement, analysis
and policy in a number of different ways” (Kabeer, 1997:
1).
Kabeer (1997) further argued that given the immense
importance of more than thirty year legacy in on-going
attempts to mainstream gender in methodological and
conceptual frameworks for poverty, it is instructive to
highlight the principal bodies of feminist literature which
have had direct and/or indirect influences on shaping the
‘engendering’ of poverty analysis over time.
Tajudeen and Adebayo 117
Major Bodies of Gender Research with Implications
for Poverty Analysis: Early Research on Women and
Development: The UN Decade (1975-1985)
The earliest substantial work on gender with implications
for thinking on poverty came with the United Nations
Decade for Women (1975-1985). In drawing attention to
the ‘invisibility’ of women in development, the UN Decade
spawned unprecedented efforts to discover and expose
what women did, and to explore how they fared in
developmental change in comparison with men. Given
prevailing concerns with economic growth at the time,
most attention was directed to women’s material wellbeing and their productive roles. Although arguably
limited from a contemporary vantage point on poverty,
this offered several new perspectives, one of which was
to emphasize how women were consistently more
disadvantaged than men in terms of income. Detailed
survey work at the micro-level generated a considerable
body of evidence on gender disparities in earnings, and
on the processes which gave rise to those disparities
such as inequalities in literacy and education,
discrimination in labour markets, unequal gender
divisions of unpaid work within the home, and the low
social and economic value attributed to work performed
by women (Kabeer, 1997).
A second set of perspectives on poverty emanating
from this early research on women was that it revealed
the difficulties of obtaining meaningful data on anyaspect
of women’s lives (whether in respect of material privation
or otherwise) from macro-level statistics. This called into
question how data that were not sensitive to, nor
disaggregated by, sexcould provide an effective basis for
gender-aware policy interventions (Corner, 2002). This
constituted a major impetus for calls made under the
auspices of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women) (1979), not only
for sex-disaggregated statistics but for indicators which
measured changes between women and men over time
(Corner, 2003; Gaudart, 2002).
A third feature of early gender research with relevance
for poverty analysis was growing recognition not only of
the plurality of household configuration, but of internal
differentiation within the idealized ‘natural’ household unit
(nominally comprising a husband, wife and children).
Research indicated, for example, that in directing
development projects to male household heads, women
either missed out as heads of household in their own
right, or as members of male-headed arrangements. In
the case of the latter, for instance, it became clear that
increasing resources to male household heads did not
automatically confer benefits to women and children. This
raised questions about the relevance of ‘the household’
as a unitary, altruistic entity, and, ipso facto, as an
appropriate target of interventions for the promotion of
economic development and/or the alleviation of poverty
(Corner, 2010).
Fourth, and finally, early gender research flagged up
the paradox whereby women’s considerable inputs to
household survival went unmatched by social recognition,
either within the context of their families and communities
or in society at large. The frequently ‘silenced’ and
‘hidden’ nature of women’s lives highlighted that there
was more than a material dimension to gendered
hardship and subordination. This, in turn, was an
important element in stimulating more multidimensional
analyses of poverty (Gaudart, 2002).
Gender and Structural Adjustment Programmes
A second wave of gender work with implications for
poverty analysis came with the ‘Lost Decade’ of the
1980s. A spate of research on the grassroots impacts of
structural adjustment programmes in different parts of the
world demonstrated unequivocally that the burdens of
debt crisis and neoliberal reform were being shouldered
unequally by women and men (Elson, 1989; Moser,
1989; Safa and Antrobus, 1992). While the importance of
‘unpacking’
households
to
ascertain
gendered
dimensions of poverty had been an important feature of
earlier research, mounting evidence for intra-household
inequality during the 1980s gave rise to unprecedented
criticism of the ‘unitary household model’. The findings of
empirical studies of structural adjustment were lent
conceptual support by broader shifts in theorizing about
households associated with ‘New Institutional Economics’
and the attendant notion of domestic units as sites of
‘cooperative conflict’ (Sen, 1987b, 1990; also Dwyer and
Bruce [eds], 1988; Young, 1992).
It became clear that it was impossible to analyze the
poverty-related corollaries of structural adjustment
without acknowledging gender. This, in turn, underlined
the integral part that gender awareness should play in
wider work on poverty (Sylvia, 2003) noted.
Female-headed Households and the ‘Feminization of
Poverty’
The need to ‘mainstream’ gender within poverty analyses
was further reinforced by research on growing numbers
of women-headed householdsboth during and after the
‘Lost Decade’. Much of this research placed emphasis on
the disadvantage borne by female-headed units in
comparison with their male-headed counterparts.
Women-headed households were linked definitively with
the concept of a ‘global feminization of poverty’, and
assumed virtually categorical status as the ‘poorest of the
poor' (Acosta-Belén and Bose, 1995; Bullock, 1994;
118 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Buvinic, 1995:3) as summarized by Kabeer (2003:81)
“female headship rapidly became the accepted discourse
about gender and poverty among international agencies”
Women-headed households were typecast as the
‘poorest of the poor’ on grounds of their allegedly greater
likelihood of being poor, and of experiencing more
pronounced degrees of indigence as male-headed units
(BRIDGE, 2001; Buvinic and Gupta, 1993). These
assumptions intermeshed with the notion that poverty
was a major causeof female household headship
(through forced labour migration, conjugal breakdown
under financial stress, lack of formal marriage and so on)
(Fonseca, 1991:138). In turn, female headship itself was
regarded as exacerbating poverty since women were
time-and resource-constrained by their triple burdens of
employment, housework and childcare, because they
were discriminated against in the labour market, because
they were unable to enjoy the ‘dual earner’ status so vital
to riding out the pressures attached to neoliberal
economic restructuring, and because they lacked the
valuable non-market work provisioned by ‘wives’ in maleheaded units (Folbre, 1994; Fuwa, 2000; ILO, 1996; Safa
and Antrobus, 1992; UNDAW, 1991).
This growing body of critical analysis on female
household headship and poverty has had major impacts
on poverty research more generally. It has been crucial,
for example, in fuelling momentum for examining gender
differences in poverty burdens and the processes giving
rise to those differences. It has further highlighted the
need to disaggregate households in poverty evaluations,
and to consider poverty from a broader optic than levels
of earned income (Cagatay, 1998; Fukuda-Parr, 1999;
Whitehead and Lockwood, 1999). Debates on female
household headship and poverty have also brought
issues of ‘power’ and‘empowerment’ to the fore, insofar
as they have stressed how capacity to command and
allocate resources is as, if not more, important than the
power to obtain resources, and that there is no simple,
unilinear relationshipbetween access to material
resources and female empowerment (Sylvia, 2003)
further stressed.
Women’s ‘Empowerment’
A fourth body of gender research with particular
relevance for poverty is that which has concentrated on
‘women’s empowerment’. Since the early 1990s, the term
‘empowerment’ has become widespread within the
gender and development lexicon, with the stated aim of
an increasing number of development interventions,
particularly those relating to poverty reduction, being to
‘empower women’. One of the most common objectives
is to enhance women’s capacity to make choices, which
is often envisaged as best achieved through raising their
access to resources (UNDP, 1995; UNIFEM, 2000).
Although definitions of empowerment remain contested,
as do the implications of empowerment, both for women
themselves, and for their relationships with others
(Kabeer, 1999; UNIFEM, 2000), issues with special
relevance for poverty include 1) the idea that
empowerment is a process, rather than an end-state, 2)
that empowerment cannot be ‘given’ but has to come
‘from within’, 3) that empowerment comprises different
dimensions and works at different scales (the personal,
the inter-personal, the collective, the local, the global),
and 4) that ‘measuring’ empowerment requires tools
which are sensitive to the perceptions of ‘insiders’ at the
grassroots, and to the meanings of empowerment in
different cultural contexts (Kabeer, 1999). Following on
from this, weight is added to the idea that poverty is not a
static, but a dynamic phenomenon; that the alleviation or
eradication of poverty cannot be answered by ‘top-down’,
‘one’ ‘off’, non-participatory approaches; that WID
approaches (which tend to focus on women only, and as
a homogenous constituency) need to be replaced by
GAD approaches (which conceptualise gender as a
dynamic and diverse social construct, and which
encompass men as well as women); and that poverty is
unlikely to be addressed effectively by a unilateral focus
on incomes, notwithstanding that employment and wages
are widely recognized as key to people’s ability to
overcome poverty (Gonzalez de la Rocha, 2003; Moser,
1998).
Sylvia (2003) further added that the contributions of
this, along with the other bodies of gender research
identified, to general analyses of poverty are now
explored in relation to three interrelated issues:
•
the ways in which a gender perspective has
influenced how poverty is defined and conceptualised
•
the impacts of gender analysis on how poverty is
measured
•
the contributions of gender research to
understanding the uneven distribution of povertygenerating processes between women and men/
The Contribution of a Gender Perspective
Definitions and Conceptualisations of Poverty
to
Sylvia (2003) noted that, although income remains
uppermost in macro-level evaluations of poverty, the last
two decades have witnessed rising support in academic
and policy circles for broadening the criteria used in
poverty definitions (Baden and Milward, 1997; Baulch,
1996).
Poverty as a Multidimensional and Dynamic Process:
Capabilities, Assets and Livelihoods
Work on gender has played a major role in calls to
Tajudeen and Adebayo 119
acknowledge poverty as a dynamic and multidimensional
concept on grounds that static profiles of income and
consumption present only part of the picture.
Acknowledging that wages are a ‘trigger for other
activities’, and a ‘motor of reproduction’ (Gonzalez de la
Rocha, 2003:21), paucity of income may be offsets to
some degree if people reside in adequate shelter, have
access to public services and medical care, and/or
possess a healthy base of ‘assets’. Assets are not only
economic or physical in nature (labour, savings, tools,
natural resources, for instance), but encompass. Inter
alia, ‘human capital’ such as education and skills, and
‘social capital’ such as kin and friendship networks and
support from community organisations (Moser, 1998).
Key concepts within the evolution of a more holistic
approach to poverty include ‘entitlements’ and
‘capabilities’ (Sen, 1987a, 1980) and notions of
‘vulnerability’ and ‘poverty as process’ (Chambers, 1983).
People’s assets and capabilities influence their poverty in
the short-term and long-term, including their ability to
withstand economic and other shocks. As further
articulated by UNFPA (2002): ‘Poor people acutely feel
their powerlessness and insecurity, their vulnerability and
lack of dignity. Rather than taking decisions for
themselves, they are subject to the decisions of others in
nearly all aspects of their lives. Their lack of education or
technical skills holds them back. Poor health may mean
that employment is erratic and low-paid. Their very
poverty excludes them from the means of escaping it.
Their attempts even to supply basic needs meet
persistent obstacles, economic or social, obdurate or
whimsical, legal or customary. Violence is an everpresent threat, especially to women’(Sylvia, 2003).
The Contribution of
Measuring Poverty
a
Gender
Perspective
to
In addition, Sylvia (2003) contends that in terms of the
measurement of poverty, gender research has
emphasized the need in broadening indicators of poverty
used in macro-level assessments. As far as quantitative
macro-level assessments are concerned, an important
step towards more holistic conceptualisation of poverty
has been made through composite indices formulated by
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The first of these-- the Human Development Index (HDI)
appeared in 1990. The HDI focuses on income, literacy
and life expectancy (UNDP, 2002). A second UNDP index
with particular relevance for poverty is the Human
Poverty Index (HPI) which came being in 1997. The HPI
eschews the idea that poverty can be reduced in income,
and posits a broader measure of privation relating to
quality of life, which embraces health, reproduction and
education (UNDP, 2002).
Although the HDI and HPI do not comprise a gender
component, gender dimensions of poverty, such as
disparities in income and capabilities between women
and men, have been made visible at international levels
through the UNDP’s Gender-related Development Index
(GDI), and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM),
(Hart, 2000; UNFPA, 2002).
Sylvia (2003) equally noted; though, originating in
1995, and subject to on-going revision and refinement,
the GDI adjust the HDI for gender disparities in the three
main indicators making up the Human Development
Index (HDI), namely:
i.
Longevity (female and male life expectancy at
birth)
ii.
Knowledge (female and male literacy rates and
female and male combined primary, secondary and
tertiary enrolment ratios), and
iii.
Decent standard of living (estimated female and
male earned income, to reflect gender-differentiated
command over resources) (UNDP, 2002).
In all countries in the world, the GDI is lower than the
HDI which means that gender inequality applies
everywhere, albert to different degrees and in different
ways. While the GDI focuses on the impact of gender
inequality on human development, the GEM measures
equity in agency – in other words, the extent to which
women are actually able to achieve equality with men
(Bardhan and Klasen, 1999). Sylvia (2003) concludes
that more specifically, the GEM aims to assess gender
inequality in economic and political opportunities and
decision-making, and comprises four main indicators:
i.
The share of parliamentary seats occupied by
women,
ii.
The proportion of legislators, senior officials and
managers who are women,
iii.
The female share of professional and technical
jobs,
iv.
The ratio of estimated female to male earned
income (UNDP, 2002:23).
The UNDP gender indices, while still crude and clearly
limited by their reliance on ‘observable’, quantitative data
can at least be regarded as important complementary
tools in the analysis of gender gaps, as well as indicating
the greater prominence given to gender in national and
global accounting of economic development and poverty.
Indeed, as pointed out by Dijkstra and Hanmer (2000),
published indicators of gender inequality have huge
policy relevance since they draw governments’ attention
to gender inequalities and can potentially galvanize them
into action. In turn, gender-sensitive indicators can
contribute to broader theoretical debates about the
relationships between gender and macro-economic
growth, including whether gender equality contributes to
economic development.
120 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Probable Solutions: Gender, Economic Activates and
Poverty in Nigeria
Entrepreneurship as a model factor of development
Societies that have studied and applied entrepreneurial
economy, such as Japan, Australia and some SouthEastern
Asian
countries,
are
witnessing
an
unprecedentedeconomic growth. These countries have
moved from a traditional economy, characterizedby
paternalism or domestic management to a dynamic,
innovative,
future-oriented
andentrepreneurial
management. .Entrepreneurship as we know constitutes
a discipline, a setof knowledge with principles, practices
and methods. Nigeria can learn the theories
ofentrepreneurship and practice them. The important
principles that can make thedifference in implementation
include the following:
1. The purposeful and systematic entrepreneurial
activity for women and men can begin with the analysis of
the opportunities which needs a plan, a vision and agoal.
2. It requires the mastery of the product, the service
or the environment. But, toachieve this principle, one has
to work hard, to acquire knowledge, to face the riskand
uncertainty and to search for change and opportunities.
3. Innovation can occur by exploring the following
sources: unexpected success, failure or event occurring
in the environment; new needs; change in the structureof
the industry or the market; change in the demography, in
perception or invalues; availability of new knowledge,
technology, etc…
4. Entrepreneurship can be applied in an existing
business, in public institution or ina new venture. In an
existing
business,
one
talks
about
entrepreneurialmanagement. This means applying
entrepreneurial principles and practices into management
(Nwoye, 2007).
Entrepreneurial management requires policies,
practices and strategies. How thetheory, concepts,
practices
and
principles
of
innovation
and
entrepreneurship can beapplied by men and women, to
enhance the business sector that determines the growth
ofthe economy. The competitive and market-oriented
economies are becoming the model oftoday’s global
economy. With innovation and entrepreneurship there is
diversity, varietyand multiple choices. “A society without
entrepreneurship is a dead society”(Nwoye, 2007).The
question is then, how can Nigeria, full of dynamism and
aspiration, as well as abundant in resources, embark on
the innovative and entrepreneurial activities andstrategies
in order to stimulate its economy?
In the publication, “Can Africa Claim the 21 Century?”
A World Bank study (2000), reported obvious conclusions
that: (1.) Gender inequality is both an economicand a
social issue; and (2.) That greater gender equality could
be a potent force for accelerated poverty reduction in
Africa (Dear 2000). Dear further stated that women
aredevelopment agenda that seeks to reverse over three
decades of economic decline inAfrica. Given the dire
prospects for poverty reduction in Africa, the continent
mustexploit all available opportunities for reducing
poverty. Successful strategies includepromoting the
private sector and women enterprise development, as
well as reducing gender inequality. With women
comprising 52% of Africa’s estimated 805 millionpeople,
women’s empowerment is imperative for Africa’s
sustainable growth. Thisassertion surely holds true for
Nigeria which is the most populous country in
Africa.Experiences in other regions of the world also
show that empowering women as economic actors,
especially in small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), can be apowerful mechanism for economic
development and consolidation of democracy. AsKofi
Annan has aptly stated,
“Study after study has shown that women do not play
a central role. Whenwomen are fully involved, the
benefits can be seen immediately: familiesare healthier
and better fed; their income, savings and reinvestment go
up.And what is true of families is also true of communities
and, in the long run, of whole countries……” (Kofi Annan
2003)
Gogoy (2005) in expressing the need and benefits of
enhancing women's access to financialsources as well as
fostering economic diversification and growth stated that
the economic and professional empowerment of women
can trigger development in the society as awhole. In her
words,
In the United States, “women create twice as many
enterprises as men, andthe job creation at enterprises
owned by women is larger than that of men in the top 500
hundred companies” (Gogoy 2005).
She concluded as follows “We want to reach out not
only to policy-makers, but also to potential women
entrepreneurs and other stakeholders so as to raise
awareness of the benefits.” Nigerian government has
actually acknowledged the importance ofmainstreaming
women in the national development process and has
initiated stepstowards realizing this objective. But,
although integrating women to the process ofeconomic
decision-making is presumably high in the national
agenda, the level ofimplementation has not been so
remarkable.
Entrepreneurship for Nigerian women and politics of
inclusion
As discussed earlier, entrepreneurship is the creation and
the production of new resources. A new venture starts
with an idea. The subject of entrepreneurship
stemsprimarily from the discovery by economic analysts
that small firms contribute considerably to economic
Tajudeen and Adebayo 121
growth and vitality. As the women population grows in
Nigeria, the need becomes more urgent than ever to
stimulate the resources that womenrepresent considering
the needs and pressures on them as mothers and
producers (Nwoye, 2007).Entrepreneurship creates jobs,
leads
to
new
knowledge
and
new
competence.Entrepreneurship can be applied in private
sector as well as in public institutions, inexisting
business, in new venture alike. It includes everybody in
the business, from thetop to the bottom. Through
entrepreneurship, women and men create wealth and
satisfyneeds. A country needs innovation and
entrepreneurship to expand and increase itsproductivity
and its competitiveness. Innovation is an integral part of
entrepreneurship. Itdeals with the introduction of, new
ways of doing things or new ideas, changing the
valueand the use of resources in order to better satisfy
consumers. Although innovation andcreativity have no
gender, African women are by nature innovators. They
can easilycreate something from nothing in attempt to
assist in family needs. And so by extension,Nigerian
women are natural entrepreneurs and presently they
dominate the informalsector business in the country. One
major characteristic of entrepreneurship is the fact that it
shifts resources from area of low productivity to higher
productivity and yield. Ingiving Nigerian women
entrepreneurs the necessary support and incentive, given
theirnatural endowment in creativity and innovation, they
can easily device new ways, newmethods and
techniques in their areas of specialization.
Cooperation in entrepreneurship
It is known that Japan and the East Asian countries did
not carry out alone their development efforts. Many
foreign companies and investors worked with these
countries. These countries benefited from the expertise,
the technology and the investment from abroad. Africa
cannot develop without external support in various areas.
Nigeria needsexperiences and expertise of other
countries in innovation and entrepreneurship. The
entrepreneurs need to work closely and in joint venture
with foreign companies tointroduce new methods,
practices and principles. Nigeria needs not only
investment butalso cooperative business or joint venture.
The hope is that, through the new mechanisms,such as
gender-mainstreaming, each contributor will concentrate
on the skill andexpertise in his/her familiar terrain. Other
countries will not only understand betterNigeria’s need
and economic potentiality but also will open doors to
partnership andcooperation with Nigerian economy. The
experiences gained by other continents orcountries in
applying innovative and entrepreneurial principles and
practices to improvetheir economies are needed
to stimulate, guide and sustain the mounting and
growing economy such as Nigerian’s. Our economy, still
fragile, needs the support of partners tolunch and sustain
it (Nwoye, 2007).
This period of freedom in Nigeria with the return of
democracy should also be used for economic revolution:
new ideas, culture, and attitude towards a new
improvedeconomy. There is a need for change toward a
Nigerian dynamic and competitive economy based on
productivity,
new
technology,
innovation
and
entrepreneurialmanagement. Nigeria needs not to imitate
other countries but to search for new and goodmethods
and practices which fits into its cultural context. Success
in womenentrepreneurship can not only revolutionize
Nigerian economy but also can lead thenation to an
innovative and dynamic society. Entrepreneurial activities
impact the wholesociety in alleviating poverty, improving
individual life and the welfare of the entirepopulation.
Building bridge across gender barriers
The business links for women programmes, must
necessarily link new entrepreneurs with experienced
business advisory agencies who will provide advice on
preparing abusiness plan and applying for credits.
Women entrepreneurs will also be offeredongoing
support for their business activities. That way a relatively
more equitabledistribution of resources can begin to
emerge. (Nwoye 1995).Many women entrepreneurs face
barriers in language, culture and lack of credithistory
when accessing business financing. Through partnership
with their own links it ispossible to assist new women
entrepreneurs
to
remove those
barriers
and
becomecontributive members to the local economy.
Business links for women in business canfoster the
entrepreneurial spirit that can improve the economic
health of our nation.These joint partnerships will create
unique opportunity for credit unions to share expertise
and resources to help women get the skills they need to
develop sound businessplans and achieve their goals
and serve the nation as well as potential for export
(Nwoye, 2007).
Addressing Gender Issues in Entrepreneurship in
Nigeria
Considering the economic progress achieved in some
other countries, this paper strongly believe and agreed
with (Nwoye, 2007) that one of the best ways to
revolutionalize Nigeria’s economy is to embark in an
innovative and entrepreneurial economy. This new
conception and practice of economy,coupled with gender
mainstreaming, can have a tremendous impact not only
on businessbut also on the entire Nigerian way of life.A
more systematic approach is necessary in taking steps to
122 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
incorporate genderinto planning, monitoring, training,
extension, resource allocation and also there is a need to
modify its organizational structure to ensure that gender
issues in Nigeria are addressed effectively. It may require
changes in goals, strategies, and actions so that both
women and men in Nigeria can influence, participate in,
and benefit from development processes (Nwoye, 2007).
Nigeria. So what is more important now is,
thedevelopment and institutionalization of tools and
approaches for gender budgeting. Through such
intervention, a model for involving women in policy
making will emerge and such a model could be replicated
in other federal sectors and States in Nigeria.
Women entrepreneurship: a vehicle for making
contributions
At the Institutional Level
In a society like Nigeria, with such a diverse and
multiethnic citizenry, efforts of various institutions must be
galvanized to the achievement and maintenance of
socialstrength and harmony. Programmes to achieve this
include using a percentage plan topromote gender equity,
innovation and entrepreneurship. Gender asymmetry
withinNigerian social and economic structures, including
constraints faced by women,therefore, provide further
justification for gender specific measures to correct
imbalancesand removal of impediments and hence
streamline areas of incentives. More than everbefore,
women are the driving force behind small business and
local economies. Anygovernment that is committed to
turning entrepreneurial ideas into dynamic businesses
tocreate jobs and export opportunities must recognize the
impact of women and small enterprises (Nwoye, 2007).
Interventions must be activities that specifically target
women, examples of such measures include:
Legal reforms granting women equal rights to
land tenure and ownership
Incentives to encourage the enrollment of more
girls in secondary schools
Efforts to make government agencies more
accountable to women in matters affecting them.
Facilitating the participation of women in specific
projects or activities in public institutions and agencies at
both Federal and State level.
Determining constraints operating against
women's active involvement in economic activities
through a combination of quantitative surveys and
qualitative social assessments.
Assessments must be designed specifically to
elicit the views of women.
Introduction of gender responsive budgeting as a
framework for gender mainstreaming by the government
of Nigeria.
Designing and implementing gender-responsive policies
effectively depends ondeveloping appropriate institutional
capacity, including changes in the responsible
publicagencies. In Nigeria today, there are limited,
women's programs that are peripheral to mainstream
activities. Whenever socio-cultural constraints seem
severe, promoting separate units within government
ministries to provide segregated women's services may
be the only workable strategy for gender mainstreaming.
At the Project Level
If both men and women are to participate in a project,
gender issues need to be addressed from the outset,
gender constraints identified, and steps taken to ensure
that theperspective and concerns of women are
incorporated fully in project design. In themeantime, the
government agencies promoting entrepreneurship in
Nigeria have notnecessarily streamlined their agenda for
promoting women entrepreneurship. Withsufficient
general awareness of gender differences and inequities,
it is possible to move toa gender approach, incorporating
gender in mainstream programs, instituting incentivesto
create responsiveness to gender differences, and making
line agencies accountable toboth men and women
clientele. Appropriate measures may vary depending on
theparticular social and political context, the exact nature
of the constraints operating againstwomen in a particular
area of Nigeria, and the kind of activity in which their
participationis sought. Constraints affecting women more
than men may include any combination oflegal or cultural
obstacles, time constraints, lack of access to information,
illiteracy, andinadequate means of transportation, limited
access to credit; lack of access to land andmarket. In
which case, gender budget should, as a necessity, focus
on the establishmentof a clear link between women’s
empowerment objectives and budget allocation.
At the Policy Level
CONCLUSION
Quite agreeably, gender issues are receiving a certain
degree of attention in Nigeria’s economic sector, which
provides the framework for its policy inclusion ofwomen in
some areas. But it is still rare, however, for women's
opinion to be soughtexplicitly in policy making area in
This paper has shown that poverty, be it relative or
absolute is a universal phenomenon. The various ways it
manifests the factors that result in poverty and the
consequences were examined, as evidently expressed in
Tajudeen and Adebayo 123
scholarly
publications.
Furthermore,
various
governmental and non-governmental sectoral and multisectoral programmes mounted to alleviate poverty in
Nigeria since 1980 up to 2010 were discussed and
appraised. In addition, various theoretical social
discourses on poverty and gender were evaluated.
The paper strongly in line with available scholarly
publications and submits that all the factors that militated
against the success of poverty alleviation programmes in
the past could be avoided. It suggests that focus should
be on the educational and economic empowerments of
women and youths, while agriculture should be promoted
to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.
Continuity of these laudable poverty alleviation
programmes must be ensured. Finding and all necessary
logistics must be provided as and at when due. Proper
monitoring of the programmes and continued
collaboration between the three tiers of government must
also be ensured. The blueprint for these programmes
must be followed progressively to the letter. The legal
instrument
instituting
these
poverty
alleviation
programmes should be entrenched in the constitution to
ensure compliance by the relevant authorities.
There is need also to document knowledge and
statistics about women’s entrepreneurship activities in
Nigeria as a means of improving comparability and
facilitating case studies regardless of ethnic, social and
cultural peculiarities of the various states of Nigeria.
Standard and functional education must be made
available to all Nigerians. There should be a review on
the aspects of the constitution to promote the principle of
gender equality between men and women. Female
parliamentarian development policies had been
introduced to achieve poverty reduction; nevertheless, all
these strategies have not yet managed to make rural and
urban households food self-sufficient.
Added to these; there is need for state houses of
assembly to enact and implement laws on widowhood for
instance, right to minimize the challenges widow face in
the event of the unfortunate loss of their spouses.
Existing laws, regulations, customs, and practices that
constitute discrimination against women in land shall be
outlawed and appropriate legislation established to
ensure effective protection of women against such acts.
There is need also, for the government to take
appropriate measures to implement and enforce laws and
policies directed towards enabling women have the same
rights as Nigerian men.
Furthermore, the poverty situation in Nigeria seems to
be more severe now than before. This is further
corroborate by the African Development Bank (AFDB,
2013)’s recent report tagged “Nigeria’s efforts to reduce
poverty rate by 2015” in a Nigerian tabloid, the (Guardian,
2013). According to the report, “Nigeria’s prospect of
halving poverty by 2015 seems weak. The proportion of
people living below the national poverty line has
worsened from 65.5% in 1996 to 69.0% in 2010. Poverty
is higher in rural areas at 73.2% than in urban area at
61.8%”, the report added. The document pointed out that
inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, rose from
0.429 in 2004 to 0.447 in 2010. Gini coefficient is a
measurement of statistical dispersion developed by
Italian statistician and sociologist, CorradoGini, which
measures the extent of distribution of income or
consumption expenditure among individuals or
households.
The report added that as at 2011, unemployment rate
was at 24% compared to 21% in 2010, adding that the
rate was high among the age bracket of between 15 and
24, and 25 to 44, at 38% and 22%, respectively. The
report pointed out that an average of 1.8 million people
entered the labour market every year over the past five
years. It quoted the statistics from the National Bureau of
Statistics to have projected that number of entrance to
the labour market yearly, would grow from three million in
2012 to about 8.5 million in 2015. “Unemployment,
particularly youth unemployment is an urgent policy
priority, several agencies and plans have been
established to tackle poverty and unemployment”, the
report added. The report strongly contends that this must
be enhanced to ensure effective engagement of the youth
for economic growth and development. Therefore,
empowering the women is a positive step to reduce
poverty to the bearest minimum. Presently in Nigeria, the
incumbent governments have accepted the provision of
National Gender policy that is, given 35% of appointive
positions to women. That is empowering them (women)
politically and financially to contribute positively to the
growth of the economy. It is hoped that an apolitical
approach could be adopted so as to get the best service
for competent technical/professional people (both men
and women) in the field.
The paper added that only through consistent
collaboration between all tiers of government, N.G.Os
and the beneficiaries in the planning and execution of
poverty alleviation projects can there be any appreciable
reduction in the present high level of poverty in Nigeria. In
conclusion, in order to appreciate the role of women in
nation building, a statement by the American Secretary of
State, Hillary Clinton, is most instructive she said; “What
we are learning around the world is that if women are
healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women
are free from violence, their families will flourish. If
women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal
partners in the society, their families will flourish. And
when families flourish, communities and nations will
flourish” (Hillary, ).
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Autobiography
Tajudeen A. Oduwole is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Houdegbe North American University Benin, Republic of Benin.
His research interest includes administrative reforms, public policy analysis, development administration and sustainable governance.
He is equally a PhD student in the Department of Sociology, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State Nigeria.
Tel: +234(0)8037140814, (0)8074000361 and +22967086446
email: toduwole1@yahoo.com
Adebayo O. fadeyi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State Nigeria.
Tel: +234(0)8062331394
email: fadeyi2@yahoo.com