ABSTRACT
This study assessed the impact of Poverty Reduction Programmes as a Development Strategy in Benin – City through the National Poverty Eradication Programme.
The study examined issues of poverty and underdevelopment in Nigeria, attributing it to lack of employment, high rate of illiteracy among the citizenry, poor infrastructure, inadequate access to micro credit facilities, mismanagement of public funds, instability of the governments and its policies.
The study also examined the efforts made by different governments in alleviating poverty. Poverty is multi-dimensional; it is characterized by lack of purchasing power, exposure to risk, malnutrition, high mortality rate, low life expectancy, insufficient access to social and economic services etc. poverty in Nigeria has reach an alarming level and is blamed on non-clear government social policies, across the world government plays a key role in poverty alleviation. In the case of Nigeria, the inability of successive governments to streamlined and harness the enormous potentials for improved services delivery in all the existing structures of poverty eradication has resulted into persistent poverty.
The study seeks to explore the extent to which public policies have affected the poverty alleviation programme in Benin-City with special emphasis on the role of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).