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Full Project – PERCEPTION OF POVERTY BY WOMEN AND MEN AND THEIR COPING STRATEGIES

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ABSTRACT

The issue of poverty in developing countries has attracted research attention in recent times as the major urban centers in these countries face tremendous pressure of population with insufficient infrastructure and social services, poor housing, insanitary conditions, low incomes, slums, etc leading to low standard of living. Uyo Municipality as an urban area has experienced significant poverty over the decades and continues to do so. The main objective of this study was to examine the perception of men and women on poverty and their livelihood strategies in Nigeria, zeroing on the Uyo Municipality. From the results of the analysis, it was found out that households in the Municipality were aware of the meaning and causes of poverty which is evident in the livelihood of men and womens and individuals. Though most of the households are employed, their incomes were not able to meet their needs. They therefore supplement their livelihood through either family support, employing both orthodox and unorthodox methods in obtaining essential social services, increased patronage of food sold by street vendors, and multiple membership of social, ethnic and religious associations. The inhabitants need to be part and even offer suggestions as to how their lives could be improved for the better. The very philosophy of the Local Government System of Nigeria which is to enhance the participation of the citizens of the communities in decisions affecting their lives should be adhered to. Data for the study was obtained mainly through the administration of questionnaires. The data gathered was electronically analyzed. It has been recommended that the Govermment should increase its poverty alleviation fund to tackle poverty.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The Nigerian economy has since the early 1960s been plagued with a myriad of problems. It declined steadily in the three decades following political independence in 1960, due to fluctuations in earnings in traditional commodity exports of cocoa, timber and minerals and the implementation of ad-hoc economic policies (Essamuah&Tonah, 2004).

Attempts at redressing some of these problems have since 1983 pivoted around the traditional World Bank and the International Monetary Fund‟s supported economic initiatives of Structural Adjustment and Economic Recovery Programmes (SAP&ERP) aimed primarily at macro-level economic stabilization as an essential pre-condition for the realization of high and sustained economic growth rates. The implementation of these policies in Nigeria has been accompanied by gradual reduction in the involvement of the government sector in economic management, and increased involvement of the private sector led, market oriented policies (Yeboah, 2000).

The first of these attempts was the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment (PAMSCAD), which was initiated in 1987 with the prime objective of addressing the needs of vulnerable groups who were in precarious condition due to the effects of SAP and ERP or earlier economic recovery programmes. Projects implemented under PAMSCAD included a set of community based projects that were to help in the rehabilitation and construction of social and economic infrastructure, thereby generating employment (Asenso, 1993). These included small farmers, mainly in the „peripheral‟ regions of Northern Nigeria, whose productivity were extremely low and who also faced hunger and unemployment during the lean farming season.

Other components of PAMSCAD dealt with the urban-based unemployed and

underemployed, and workers retrenched from the public and private sectors of the economy due to these policy reforms. But a cursory evaluation of the programme indicates that it was unsuccessful in adequately tackling the levels of poverty of the target population. Asenso (1993) observes that poverty levels assumed dramatic proportions in certain urban and rural areas during this period. Data available from Nigeria Statistical Service (2000) corroborates this view by indicating that the number of urban poor had been on the increase in recent times, especially in the national capital of Abuja where the incidence of poverty increased from 3.97% in 1987/88 to 5.5% in 1990/91. It has been asserted that the dismal result of these programmes may be attributed to the inability of the programme to target the poorest of the poor for focused action (Asenso, 1993).

Within the above context, one significant factor that may help explain the dismal performance of poverty mitigation programmes in the past, is likely to be the overly concentration of governmental efforts at poverty reduction on the provision of physical infrastructure at the expense of empowering the people by way of either providing them with jobs or facilitating their own employment or well being. This seems to be the representative view of experts in the field Van Braun (1995), for example, has argued that effective poverty reduction programmes should aim at offering employment and creating assets for the poor in the short term and in the long term. It is in this regard that the Private Sector, especially the

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO‟s) and their variant, the Community–Based Organizations (CBOs), have been found to be more successful than the Public Sector institutions in making the poor self-reliant and an active participant in resolving problems that confront them.

Farrington and Bebbington (1993) believe that these bodies have the capacity to develop participatory methods as well as empower the poor to contribute to technical change from their own resources. In addition, they contend that these institutions are more effective in articulating the demands of governments among the poor and also targeting relevant groups with appropriate policies. The above insights seem to indicate that locally-based institutions can foster more effective and closer relationship with the poor on issues associated with development, relative to public-sector institutions.

Experience gathered from the maiden attempt at poverty alleviation through the

PAMSCAD initiative informed the evolution of the Nigeria Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP), which is funded from the Social Investment Fund (SIF), a multilateral set up with contributions from the Government of Nigeria, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)(Asiedu,2002).

„Poverty reduction‟, „poverty alleviation and „poverty eradication‟ were concepts which took centre stage during the 1970s under alternative development paradigms.

There is the need for a critical examination of this view, since poverty is still a critical issue in Nigeria today. This call is not however to suggest that Nigeria‟s poverty is worse than that of rural poverty, or that resources and attention on rural poverty should be shifted to urban areas. It is a call for adequate attention to be paid to the growing incidence of poverty.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Poverty is generally defined as an unacceptable physiological and social deprivation that an individual or community experiences (Essamuah&Tonah, 2004). In recent decades the issue of poverty in Nigeria has attracted attention from both managers of cities and scholar‟s especially social scientists as the major cities of the country face serious challenges of population and poverty.

Poverty in AkwaIbom state in general and Uyo Municipality in particular is pronounced that one can literally see it from the daily lives of men and women. For example, a typical indigenous family in Uyo Municipality may take “ampesie” as their breakfast. For lunch, they may have to take “abetee” and “fufu” for supper. In fact, a family could eat fufu throughout the year without a change of diet. They take these merely because they cannot afford alternative meals as a result of financial constraints. Some children from the Municipality could hardly enjoy sponsorship from their parents to attend School. They find the amount of school fees to be prohibitive. Other indicators of poverty in the Uyo Municipality include high illiteracy rate, high population growth rate, poor water and insanitary conditions, malnutrition and child labour. As a result of these, the inhabitants of the Municipality adopt several strategies to cope with the poverty situation. These problems have therefore provoked a study on the examination of men and women and individual livelihood strategies in the Uyo Municipality.

1.3 Objectives of the Study The study seeks:

To investigate the perception of men and women of poverty and the causes of poverty in the Uyo Municipality.
To examine whether there are any strategies adopted by the poor and their households in coping with poverty in the Uyo Municipality.
To assess some of the social interventions implemented by the Government aimed at alleviating poverty and their impact on the urban poor in the Municipality.

1.4 Research Questions

In order to attain the set objectives of the study, the following research questions were posed:

What is the perception of men and women in the Uyo Municipality about poverty and its causes?
What are the strategies adopted by the poor and their households to cope with poverty in the Uyo Municipality.
What are some of the social interventions implemented by the Government aimed at alleviating poverty and their impact on the poor in the Municipality?

1.5 Significance of the Research.

The findings of this study are expected to help inform decision making on coping strategies of the urban poor by managers of local authorities.
The recommendations of this study will help shape policy on poverty alleviation in general and poverty in particular.
The household and individual livelihood strategies of this study would augment the existing store of knowledge on the coping strategies of the urban poor and serve as a catalyst for further research on innovative ways of reducing poverty for the overall well-being of the nation.

1.6 Limitations of the study

A study of this nature should have covered the whole country so as to examine thoroughly the household and individual livelihood strategies of the urban poor. However, it was impossible because of financial and time constrains. Since the poor in AkwaIbom state share the same characteristics and problems, the study done in Uyo was applicable to the whole country and so, the findings of the study can be said to be for the whole country. The researcher limited this research to a case study on Uyo Municipality in Akwa Ibom state.

1.7 Scope of the study

The approach and scope of the study is dictated by the objectives of coping with poverty under scrutiny on one hand, and the study area on the other. While the geographical coverage of the study is confined to the Uyo Municipality, content wise its scope is limited to social and economic impact assessment of poverty in the Municipality. The methodology used includes cluster sampling and non-probability sampling of purposive and convenient. Purposive was used on Government Officials and convenient sampling was used on individual households. Therefore the approach in this study involved generation of data from three independent sources, namely sample survey of individuals and household as well as structured questionnaires for Government Officials. The primary data is also supplemented by data emerging from the secondary sources such as published data from records of the implementing agency. The results from household and Municipal Officials were analysed and discussed including material received from Government on coping strategies. The last aspect of the study looked at the findings of the study and how the finding could be improved.

1.9 Organization of the Study

The study is structured into five main chapters. Chapter One captures the background of the study, the problem statement, objectives, and research questions and the significance and limitations of study.

Chapter two reviews the theoretical and empirical literature relevant to the study whilst Chapter three deals with the study area and research methodology.

Chapter four analyses the data collected from field, whiles chapter five, the final chapter, discusses the conclusion, summary and recommendations.

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