POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN NIGERIA THROUGH CAPITALISM ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK: PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

Poverty, both in absolute and relative terms is afflicting most Nigerians. To be sure, successive Nigerian regimes have adopted series of measures to ameliorate the plight of the poor. Regrettably, the application of capitalist policies and strategies has not been able to alleviate poverty. On the contrary, the poverty level has soared instead of abating. It is the central thesis of this paper that poverty alleviation is impossible with the application of orthodox capitalist principles. This is basically due to the contradictions which are inherent in capitalism. On the basis of our position, we recommended among other things that the Nigerian state should either adopt socialism or regulated capitalism if it is desirous to alleviate poverty.