Impact of Poverty Reduction Programs on Multidimensional Poverty in Rural Nigeria

Tolulope Olayemi Oyekale Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria ABSTRACT Poverty reduction is the goal of all rural development programs embarked upon by Nigerian government. This is important because poverty is a critical problem in Nigeria and the rural areas are mostly affected. This study examined the impact of government programs on the multidimensional poverty of rural Nigeria by using the 2006 Core Welfare Indicator Survey (CWIQ) data. Fuzzy set approach was used to compute the multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. Tobit regression was used to examine the impact of poverty alleviation programs on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. The results show that the multidimensional poverty index for rural Nigeria is 0.3796. It is also reflected that some development programs had negative impact on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. . Household head in the South South region were multidimensionally poor than those in other regions. The government should intensify efforts on programs that had positive impact on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. Also, it should be ensured that government programs get to the targeted people