Economic Growth, Poverty and Inequality Link: Nigerian Experience

While poverty reduction has become the main goal of development efforts, there is an on-going sometimes-heated debate about the elements that should be at the center of the sensible poverty reducing strategy. By definition, poverty reduction in a given country is a function of the changes in average income and changes in income inequality. Rapid and sustained economic growth utilizing a new individual strategy calls for proficient use of the natural advantages of modern infrastructure, which further serves as a poverty reducing strategy. Also the World Bank has argued that a high rate of economic growth is the most effective strategy for reducing poverty. The paper investigated the relative impact of economic growth and changes in equality on poverty. The result of our study showed that both material and social resources do have impact on poverty in Nigeria . The study concluded that there would have been more progress in poverty reduction, particularly in the context of MDGs, if growth had been more equitable than available evidence suggests. In other words, there is room to make growth more pro-poor to enhance rapid reduction in poverty. Keywords: Economic growth, Poverty reduction, Inequality