ABSTRACT

The severe nature of poverty in Nigeria has prompted the need for government to tackle this issue through programmes or projects aimed at poverty reduction in order to improve living conditions of the poor. This was predicted to be achievable through various programmes or projects aimed at financial empowerment, training on skills acquisition for the less educated, loans with minimal interest and provision of employment opportunities to reduce the incidence of poverty. Notable among such programmes or projects is the National Directorate of Employment. This study assesses the impact of the National Directorate of Employment programmes on Poverty Alleviation in Gombe State, as well as whether there is a significant change in the incomes and standard of living of its beneficiaries. A cross sectional data set was collected through multi-stage sampling technique from 400 beneficiaries in Gombe and Funakaye LGA in Gombe North Senatorial District; Akko and Yamaltu-Deba LGA in Gombe Central Senatorial District and Billiri and Kaltungo LGA in Gombe South Senatorial District in the state. Descriptive statistics and the Logistic regression model were applied in analyzing the data set. Findings from the descriptive statistics results shows that the right group of beneficiaries were targeted by the NDE, for the model respondent was discovered to be a person in need of assistance to gain a reasonable income, improve his/her living standards and move out of the poverty line of US$ 1 per day. The logistic regression results presented in Model 1 indicated that the VSD, SSE, REP and SPW programmes of the NDE did not have any significant impact on the poverty status of the beneficiaries. However, the SSE programme was statistically significant for the dependent variable income and showed a positive likelihood of increasing the incomes of the beneficiaries by 1.32 times. The VSD, REP and SPW were not statistically significant for income and did not have any impact. The SPW programme was statistically significant for standard of living and had a negative likelihood of improving the living standards of the beneficiaries by 0.58 times. The VSD, SSE and REP were not statistically significant and did not have any impact. A supplementary analysis for the sub-schemes of each programme (Model 2) produced highly similar results with that of Model 1. This study therefore, recommends that the NDE should re-structure their programmes towards the agricultural and informal sectors of the state, given that majority of its beneficiaries were farmers (36.1%) and traders (35%). In addition, more NDE training centers should be added in every part of the state to broaden the reach of the programmes and afford more indigenes of Gombe state the opportunity of benefiting from the income-generating activities of theNDE.

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