Evaluation of poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria: The demand driven approach perspective

This review was undertaken to examine why poverty still remains high despite various policies implemented by the Nigerian government. The review showed that the poverty alleviation measures implemented so far have focused more on growth, basic needs and rural development approaches. Most of the poverty alleviation strategies adopted in Nigeria were well focused on rural areas and agricultural sector. It was observed that most of these programmes before and during Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) were supply driven which could not meet the needs of the poor and so they had little effect in alleviating poverty. After SAP, some  programmes implemented used demand driven approach to meet the target poor. Although, poverty reduced due to this approach but the very poor (vulnerable) were not targeted in some of these programmes. This paper recommended that there should beprevention of elite capture through proper targeting in any project. Key words: Evaluation, Poverty, Alleviation, Programmes, Approach, Impact, Nigeria