CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Poverty is a global problem found in different parts of the world albeit with different causes and at various levels; which gives rise to various approaches to poverty alleviation strategies that depend on each country’s antecedents. Poverty in the United States is seen as a result of failings at the structural, social and economic level (Rank, 2003). However it is seen in most African nations as caused by low level of production and production capacity, most especially in the agricultural sector which accounts for most of the employment and a large share of the GDP (Ibrahim, Mahmood and Umar, 2011). Nigeria is the most populous African country; it has a high poverty rate of 69% in 2013 and rising unemployment rate of 19.7 in 2015, 21.5 in 2016, 23.9% in 2017 and 24.3 in 2018(NBS, 2018). Nigeria is the 152nd country on the Human Development Index in 2014 and the 22nd in Africa (HDI 2014) In order to alleviate poverty, Nigeria embarked on economic empowerment programs from the 1970‟s. These include the Green Revolution, Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), Nigerian Agricultural, Cooperatives and Rural Development Bank, (NACRDB) (now Bank of Agriculture, BOA), National Directorate for Employment (NDE), Poverty Alleviation Program (PAP), National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP), the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), and National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), all in an effort to alleviate poverty and its attendant consequences.  Economic empowerment and development program was born out of the dire need to stop the ravages of poverty and enhance the welfare of the people by the government. The global summits of world leaders that have a direct bearing on poverty alleviation was the millennium summit of 2000, it brought together 189 Heads of States who undertook to execute the time bound Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These nations committed themselves to, among other targets, cut by half the number of people living in hunger and poverty by the year 2015. Nigeria was among the 189 signatories at the convention; and in order to meet the target; it came up with a milestone in the form of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). The Strategy is intended to fast track the achievement of NEEDS and by extension the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (NEEDS, 2004). NEEDS seeks to ensure growth in the internally generated revenue and the Gross Domestic Product of the state by revamping the private sector, taking advantage of vast resources and opportunities abound in the state by exploiting the national and global markets. Similarly, the strategy seeks to free up resources for investment in infrastructure through investing heavily in electricity, roads, water and transport and as well assist investors in the state to access cheap credit through micro finance institutions. It is also the goal of NEEDS to coordinate strategies for the key sectors that drive the state economy such as agriculture, solid minerals and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NEEDS, 2004). Nigeria has a poverty rate of 63% in 2004, 69% in 2013, Gini coefficient of 0.488 in 2005; and unemployment rate of 13.4% in 2017, 23.9 in 2018 (NBS, 2018) and a target of 5% reduction in unemployment annually (NEEDS 2004). This indicates that state Government and the National Directorate of Employment have a crucial role to play in  the fight against poverty. Ogwumike (2001) asserts that the Micro Finance Companies just like the NDE have articulated programs aimed at curbing the nation