Posted on July 8, 2010 - by M. Bennett

Microfinance banking poverty alleviation: Way forward in Nigeria…

By Adamu Ibrahim
The issue of poverty has  become a front burner issue all over the world especially in the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The interest shown all over the world may be genuine but there are some elements of enlightened self interest. For example, in Nigeria, most of the violent clashes have been attributed to poverty. Poverty is always a threat to political stability and peace.

It is a sad paradox that Nigeria, a land flowing with ‘black gold’ continues to allow majority of its citizens to wallow in abject poverty in the midst of potential wealth. Over the years, different poverty alleviation programs have been introduced by various governments to address the issue of poverty and, from empirical evidence available today, we don’t seem to have recorded any reasonable success.

I intend to, with this article, selectively trace financial poverty alleviation policies and measures introduced by past governments to date and the role that microfinance banks can still play in spite of its present surmountable challenges. Thereafter, I will share my thoughts on the way forward.

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