POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY AND EDUCATION REFORMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Poverty is a serious economic and social vice that afflicts its victim adversely. Poverty is so dynamic that it manifest in so many forms such as lack of income and productive assets that denies its victims sustainable livelihood, chronic hunger and malnutrition, homelessness lack of durable goods access to clean water, poor sanitation and diseases, lack of education, low life expectancy, social exclusion, high level of unemployment among others. Therefore, poverty is a critical challenge that needs to be addressed urgently because of its devastating effects on human well being. it is against this backdrop that this paper intends to look at how educational reforms in Nigeria could be used as a strategy for poverty reduction. The paper argued that educational reforms could be channeled toward poverty reduction in the sense that education is valued as a source of economic progression and social mobility by increasing the value of efficiency of the labour force and thus improves economic growth. The paper concludes that this economic growth is expected to translate into higher income thereby lowering poverty levels. The paper also made some possible policy recommendations towards poverty reduction strategy using educational reforms.